Fish of the Gymnothorax genus of the Muraeninae subfamily of the Muraenidae (moray eels) family of the Anguilloidei suborder of the Anguilliformes (eels) order of the Elopomorpha superorder.
(Brown moray. Photo by © Sacha Lobenstein. enelmar.es)
Brown moray (Gymnothorax unicolor) was first described in 1809 by the French botanist and ichthyologist François Delaroche (1781-1812).
It inhabits the depths from one to 20 meters deep. It is the demersal predator. It is of nocturnal nature. It spends most of the time in ambush in the bottom caves, depressions and hollows of rocks, between piles of stones. The maximum recorded length is 100 centimeters, weight – 6 kilograms. It feeds on fish, squid, crab, and also carrion.
(Brown moray. Photo by © Marion Epitto)
It is an rare inhabitant of the Adriatic. It is absent in its northern part, more common in southern part on the border with the Ionian Sea.
Names of brown moray (Gymnothorax unicolor) in other languages are as follows:
Merine e zeze (Albanian), Μουγγροσμέρνα (Mungrosmerna) (Greek), Morena negra, Murión (Spanish), Murena nera (Italian), Braune Muräne (German), Moreão-castanho (Portuguese), Murina crnka (Croatian, Serbian), Kahverengi müren (Turkish), Murène brune (French), Muréna hnědá (Czech).