Tiger reef eel

Scuticaria tigrina

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth1–22 m
Water temperature6–30 °C
Best monthsApril
How commonRare

About this species

Scuticaria tigrina is a moray eel found in coral reefs in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. It is commonly known as the tiger reef-eel, tiger snake moray, tiger moray eel, tiger moray, tiger eel, spotted eel, or the spotted snake moray. It has distinctive black spots and stripes resembling tiger marks and is known to camouflage within the reef environment.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Scuticaria tigrina”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 1 records
February: 2 records
March: 3 records
April: 146 records
May: 3 records
June: 2 records
July: 5 records
August: 1 records
September: 0 records
October: 2 records
November: 2 records
December: 0 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–22 m · Deepest record: 23 m

0–10 m: 9 records
10–20 m: 2 records
20–30 m: 2 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 6–30 °C

4–6 °C: 1 records
6–8 °C: 0 records
8–10 °C: 0 records
10–12 °C: 0 records
12–14 °C: 0 records
14–16 °C: 0 records
16–18 °C: 0 records
18–20 °C: 0 records
20–22 °C: 0 records
22–24 °C: 3 records
24–26 °C: 130 records
26–28 °C: 26 records
28–30 °C: 25 records

Names and classification

English: Tiger reef eel, Spotted Eel, Spotted Snake Moray, Tiger Moray Eel, Tiger moray, Tiger reef-eel, tiger reef eel, tiger reef-eel, Tiger Snake Moray

Names in 4 more languages

Spanish: morena atigrada, Morena Atigrada De arrecifes
French: Murène tigrée, Murène tigre, Murène tigre récifale, Murène Tigre Récifale
Japanese: Moyokikaiutsubo, モヨウキカイウツボ
Simplified Chinese: 糬鰻, 薯鰻, 虎斑長圓鯙, 虎斑鞭尾鯙, 虎斑鞭尾鱔, 虎鰻, 錢鰻

Other scientific names: Gymnomuraena tigrina, Ichthyophis tigrinus, Scuticara tigrina, Scuticaria tigrinus, Uropteryginus tigrinus, Uropterygius tigrinus

Similar species

Snowflake moray
Echidna nebulosa
Barred moray
Echidna polyzona
Lipspot moray
Gymnothorax chilospilus
Fimbriated moray
Gymnothorax fimbriatus
Blackspot Moray
Gymnothorax melatremus
Barred-fin Moray
Gymnothorax zonipectis

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
251 open-data records from 1828 to 2024.

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