Mediterranean moray
muraena helena latin

The Mediterranean moray's reproduction is not well known.

The Mediterranean moray used to have front fins.

The closest relatives to the Mediterranean Moray are the many other species of morays.

The Mediterranean moray is known for its 'alien'-like pharyngeal jaw.

The Mediterranean moray spends most of the day in cavities and clefts between rocks and is more active at night.

The bite of the Mediterranean moray can be dangerous mainly due to the mildly toxic slime of its skin.

Among those that could was the formidable and potentially toxic Mediterranean moray, a valued delicacy which were reared ponds at the seaside.

The Mediterranean moray has an elongated, eel-like body and can reach a length of 1.5 meters and weigh over 15 kilograms.

The electric eel and the Mediterranean moray do not show any relation until you go right back to its phylum, Chordata.

The pharyngeal jaw of the Mediterranean moray (which is explained above) is also analogous to the snake's jaw.

Muraena helena (Mediterranean moray)

Their bodies of both are flexible for folding or coiling into small places, for example, crevices for the Mediterranean moray and under rocks for the snake.

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 Mediterranean moray (sometimes also called Roman eel, Muraena helena) is a fish of the moray eel family.

The pharyngeal jaw of the Mediterranean moray uses a different method and has a different structure than the snake's but the outcome, purpose and advantage are the same.

Although snakes and Mediterranean morays are not closely related, the body of the Mediterranean moray is analogous to that of a snake.

One parasitic crustacean, the trematode Folliculovarium mediterraneum and the flatworm Lecithochirium grandiporum are parasites of the Mediterranean moray.

The Mediterranean moray's pharyngeal jaw is homologous to the jaws of many other ray-finned fish, for example, a parrot fish, which use their pharyngeal jaw for grinding their food.

People commonly think that the electric eel and the Mediterranean moray must be very similar but in fact bony tongues, butterfly fish, elephant fish and featherbacks are closer on the tree of life.

The Mediterranean moray inhabits the coastal waters of the eastern Atlantic Ocean from the British Isles to the coast of Senegal; the waters of the Canary Islands and the Azores; and the Mediterranean Sea.

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.