Muraena argus

Argus moray | White-spotted Moray
Muraena argus
Muraena argus, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, Photo: Graham Edgar

Distribution

Tropical Eastern Pacific


Description

Head grey-brown with a covering of white spots, body with a tan mottling underlying the white spots, and eye yellow. inhabits rocky, boulder strewn reefs and walls, in crevices and holes in the reef with just the head protruding. Constantly opens and closes it\'s mouth, fanning water over it\'s gills.


Information

Max Size: 120 cm

Sea Temperature Range: 16.6-30.2°C

Depth: 5-60m

Habitat Generalization Index: N/A

Also referred to as the SGI (Species Generalisation Index), this describes the habitat niche breadth of the species. Species with values less than 15 are found in a relatively narrow range of reef habitat types (specialists), while those over 25 may be found on most hard substrates within their range (generalists). Learn more here.


Conservation and Rarity

IUCN Status: Least Concern

Occurrence: Infrequent (4.6% of sites)

Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution. It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed

Abundance: Solitary (1 per transect)

Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.


Edit by: Joe Shields