Muraenidae
by M.-L. Bauchot
Body elongate, muscular and somewhat compressed, scaleless. Head massive, its occipital region somewhat elevated; anterior nostril tubular at front of snout; posterior nostril opening near upper anterior eye margin. Teeth usually strong, caniniform to blunt molars, in jaws and on vomer. Gill openings restricted to small roundish lateral apertures. Dorsal and anal fins included in a dermal fold, confluent with caudal fin; pectoral and pelvic fins absent. Lateral line reduced to the first two, three or four pores in branchial region.
Inhabit shallow waters (rocks or coarse sand) or rather deep coral reefs. Scavengers and predators, may be aggressive, active mainly at night. Reproduction in warm hydrological season; larvae leptocephalus with metamorphosis.
Genera 12 (and 1 unpublished); in Clofnam area 4.
Recent revision: Blache (1967 on a regional basis only).