The fish is generally pale purple, white or brownish in colour, with a greyish head with distinct lines of black dots.[4][7]
Taxonomy
The geometric moray is a species of moray. The moray family (Muraenidae) is divided into two subfamilies: the snakemorays (subfamily:Uropterygiinae) and the typical morays (subfamily:Muraeninae). This species is classified within the latter due to having a dorsal fin in parts of the body where they wouldn't be in snakemorays. Within the subfamily, G. griseus is classified within the genusGymnothorax, which contains over half of the species in the family.
Relatives
This species' closest relative is the white-eyed moray (Gymnothorax thyrsoideus),[10] which shares the common feature of white eyes; and also is not found in most places that G. griseus is in. The next closest relative to these two is Castle's moray (Gymnothorax castlei), which shares features with this species, such as having an almost identical pattern of spots, and having dots on the lateral line (griseus sometimes has the latter feature).[11] More distant relatives include the False and Arabian false brown morays (Gymnothorax pseudoherrei & G. arabicus, respectively) and the Mottled moray (Echidna delicauta).[12]
^Bohlke, E. B., & Randall, J. E. (1999). Gymnothorax castlei, a new species of Indo-Pacific moray eel (Anguilliformes: Muraenidae). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 47(2), 549-554.
^Smith, David G.; Bogorodsky, Sergey V.; Dandar, James; Zajonz, Uwe (2024-07-10). "A new species of short unpatterned moray eel (Anguilliformes: Muraenidae) from the northwestern Indian Ocean, including the Socotra Archipelago, with a redescription of Gymnothorax pseudoherrei Böhlke". Zootaxa. 5477 (4): 465–474. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5477.4.4. ISSN1175-5334. PMID39646069.
Full body view of a peppered moray in the Red Sea (Egypt)
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