Gymnothorax moluccensis (Bleeker 1864) —Molucca Moray

(Figure 23)

Priodonophis moluccensis Bleeker 1864: 48 (Ambon I., Molucca Is., Indonesia). Holotype (unique), BMNH 1867.11.28.227.

Gymnothorax moluccensis: Randall & Golani 1995: 863; Golani & Bogorodsky 2010: 10; Golani & Fricke 2018: 22.

Red Sea material. Yemen: USNM 312236 (1, 241).

Comparative material. Indonesia: BMNH 1867.11 . 28.227 (1, 399 [387], holotype). New Caledonia: USNM 323536 (2, 140–163) . Coral Sea, Chesterfield Bank: BPBM 33592 (2, 277–366); ANSP 171494 (1, 347) . Australia: ANSP 144425 (1, 357).

Description. In TL: preanal length 1.8–2.0, predorsal length 6.7–9.0, head length 7.4–8.5, body depth at anus 18–32. In head length: snout length 5.6–6.9, eye diameter 10–14, upper-jaw length 2.8–3.0. Pores: LL 2, SO 3, IO 4, POM 6. Vertebrae: predorsal 6–8, preanal 58–63, total 130–135.

Body moderate; anus slightly behind midlength; dorsal-fin origin slightly before or slightly behind gill opening. Jaws moderate, of equal length. Eye moderate, over middle of upper jaw. Anterior nostril tubular; posterior nostril elliptical, with a slightly raised rim, above anterior margin of eye.

Teeth serrate, moderately stout, conical to compressed and blade-like. Intermaxillary teeth in a single peripheral series, 4–7 on each side; 1–2 median teeth. Maxillary teeth uniserial in larger specimens, biserial in smaller ones, which have 5 larger, inner teeth anteriorly; about 11–16 outer teeth. Dentary with 2–3 larger inner teeth anteriorly and about 11–16 smaller outer teeth. Vomerine teeth biserial.

Color: head and body medium brown, body and fins densely covered with very small pale spots, interspace between spots greater than spot diameter. Anterior nostril brown.

Maximum size at least 387 mm (holotype).

Distribution and habitat. This is a rare species known from only about a dozen specimens including the holotype. It was described from Indonesia (Moluccas Islands and East Timor) and has since been collected in the Coral Sea, off New Caledonia, Australia (Queensland) and in the Red Sea.

Remarks. The Red Sea specimen has slightly more predorsal (8) and fewer preanal (58) and total (130) vertebrae than those from the Pacific (6–7, 60–63, 131–138, respectively), but the difference is slight, and the sample size is small. The holotype is a faded mottled brown color, but all the others are brown with small pale spots. No specimens of G. moluccensis were collected during the field surveys of the present study, but two sequences were available from specimens collected in Western Australia. The phylogeny (Fig. 48) shows that the species is closest related to a species identified as G. neglectus Tanaka. The two species are placed in a well-supported clade with another species that could not be assigned to any described species of the genus by the first author ( Gymnothorax sp. from Marquesas Islands).