Gymnothorax mordax

Gymnothorax mordax (Ayres, 1859).

California Moray. To 152 cm (5 ft) TL (Miller and Lea 1972). Point Conception, California to Todos Santos (23°24.6’N, 110°13.8’W), southern Baja California (John Snow, pers. comm. to M.L.), including Isla Guadalupe, central Baja California (Reyes-Bonilla et al. 2010), and Rocas Alijos (Personal communication: Scripps Institution of Oceanography Fish Collection, La Jolla, California). A specimen reported from Clipperton Island (Personal communication: Scripps Institution of Oceanography Fish Collection, La Jolla, California) was misidentified (Katherine Dale and Arturo Ramírez, pers. comm. to M.L.), and one from Nicaragua (Personal communication: Scripps Institution of Oceanography Fish Collection, La Jolla, California) is a leptocephalus. Early-stage larvae have been taken around Cabos San Lucas, in the lowermost part of the Gulf of California (on both sides), and down the Mexican mainland as far south as Mazatlán (William Watson, pers. comm. to M.L.). Beltrán-León and Rios Herrera (2000) tentatively identified larvae captured off Colombia as this species. Benthic; depth: lower intertidal to 40 m (131 ft) (min.: Ruiz-Campos et al. 2010b; max.: Eschmeyer and Herald 1983).