Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Superclassis/Classis: Actinopterygii
Classis/Subclassis: Actinopteri
Subclassis/Infraclassis: Neopterygii
Infraclassis: Teleostei
Megacohors: Elopocephalai
Supercohors: Elopocephala
Cohors/Superordo: Elopomorpha
Ordo: Anguilliformes
Subordo: Anguilloidei
Familia: Muraenidae
Subfamilia: Muraeninae
Genus: Muraena
Species: M. appendiculata – M. argus – M. augusti – M. clepsydra – M. helena – M. lentiginosa – M. melanotis – M. pavonina – M. retifera – M. robusta
Name
Muraena Linnaeus, 1758
Gender: feminine
Type species: Muraena helena Linnaeus, 1758
Remark: Jordan & Gilbert (1883a: 355) designated Muraena helena as the type species of Muraena, but overlooked Bleeker’s (1864b: 113) earlier designation of M. anguilla. The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, suppressed in Opinion 1672 Bleeker’s priority and placed Muraena helena on the Official List as the type species of Muraena.
Synonyms
Murenophis Cuvier, 1797
Muraenophis Lacepède, 1803 -- Unjustified emendation of Murenophis Cuvier, 1797
Limomuraena Kaup, 1856
Limamuraena Kaup in Dumeril, 1856, -- misspelling
Limmamuraena Kaup in Dumeril, 1856, -- misspelling
References
Bleeker, P.; 1864: Systema Muraenorum revisum. Nederlandsch Tijdschrift voor de Dierkunde, 2: 113–122. BHL
Cuvier, G.; 1797: Tableau élémentaire de l'histoire naturelle des animaux. Paris. 1-710, Pls. 1-14. BHL
Duméril, A. M. C.; 1856: Ichthyologie analytique ou classification des poissons, suivant la méthode naturelle, à l'aide de tableaux synoptiques. Mémoires de l'Académie des Sciences : tirés des registres de cette Académie. 27 (1): 1–507.
Jordan, D. S. & Gilbert, C. H.; 1883: Synopsis of the fishes of North America. Bulletin of the United States National Museum, No. 16: 1–1018.
Kaup, J. J.; 1856: Uebersicht der Aale. Archiv für Naturgeschichte, 22 (1): 41–77. BHL
Lacepède, B. G. E.; 1803: Histoire naturelle des poissons. 5: 1–803 + index, Pls. 1-21.
Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis, Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Holmiæ: impensis direct. Laurentii Salvii. i–ii, 1–824 pp DOI: 10.5962/bhl.title.542: 244. Open access Reference page.
Opinion 1672 (1992): Muraena Linnaeus, 1758 and Anguilla Schrank, 1798 (Osteichthyes: Anguilliformes): placed on the Official List of Generic Names. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature, 49: 93–94.
Smith, D.G. 2012. A checklist of the moray eels of the world (Teleostei: Anguilliformes: Muraenidae). Zootaxa 3474: 1–64. Preview PDF Open access Reference page.
Links
Muraena species list in FishBase,
Froese, R. & Pauly, D. (eds.) 2024. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication, www.fishbase.org, version 02/2024.
Muraena and its species (including synonyms) in Catalog of Fishes, Eschmeyer, W.N., Fricke, R. & van der Laan, R. (eds.) 2024. Catalog of Fishes electronic version.
Muraena in the World Register of Marine Species
Vernacular names
русский: Мурены
Muraena is a genus of twelve species of large eels in the family Muraenidae.
This genus is common in the Mediterranean, and is abundantly represented in tropical and subtropical seas, especially in rocky parts or on coral reefs. In the majority, a long fin runs from the head along the back, round the tail to the vent, but all are destitute of pectoral and ventral fins. The skin is scaleless and smooth, in many species ornamented with varied and bright colours.[3]
The mouth is wide, the jaws strong and armed with formidable, generally sharply pointed, teeth, which enable the Muraena not only to seize its prey (which chiefly consists of other fishes) but also to inflict serious, and sometimes dangerous, wounds on its enemies. It attacks persons who approach its places of concealment in shallow water, and is feared by fishermen.[3] At least one species, Muraena retifera, possesses an additional "raptorial pharyngeal jaw" within the pharynx, which is mobile and can be thrust forwards quickly to assist in grasping prey.[4]
Muraena helena
Some of the tropical Muraenas exceed a length of 5 feet (150 cm), but most of the species, among them the Mediterranean moray, are somewhat smaller. The latter, the "murena" of the Italians and the Muraena helena of ichthyologists, was considered by the ancient Romans to be one of the greatest delicacies, and was kept in large ponds and aquaria. It is not confined to the coasts of southern Europe, but is spread over the Indian Ocean, and is not uncommon on the coasts of Australia. Its body is generally of a rich brown, marked with large yellowish spots, each of which contains smaller brown spots.[3]
Species
Muraena appendiculata (Guichenot, 1848)
Muraena argus (Steindachner, 1870) (White-spotted moray)
Muraena augusti (Kaup, 1856)
Muraena clepsydra C. H. Gilbert, 1898 (Hourglass moray)
Muraena helena Linnaeus, 1758 (Mediterranean moray)
Muraena lentiginosa Jenyns, 1842 (Jewel moray)
Muraena melanotis (Kaup, 1860) (Honeycomb moray)
Muraena pavonina J. Richardson, 1845 (Whitespot moray)
Muraena retifera Goode & T. H. Bean, 1882 (Reticulate moray)
Muraena robusta Osório, 1911 (Stout moray)
Formerly Included Species
Muraena anguilla Linnaeus, 1758 (European eel) - valid as Anguilla anguilla Linnaeus, 1758
References
Sepkoski, Jack (2002). "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera". Bulletins of American Paleontology. 364: 560. Retrieved 2008-01-08.
ICZN (1992). "Opinion 1672. Muraena Linnaeus, 1758 and Anguilla Schrank, 1798 (Osteichthyes, Anguilliformes): placed on the Official List of Generic Names". The Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature. 49 (1): 92–93.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Muraena". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 15–16.
"For moray eels, two jaws better than one - Environment - smh.com.au". Sydney Morning Herald. 6 September 2007.
Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Muraena". FishBase. June 2011 version.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/"
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
