Scuticaria tigrina (Lesson, 1828)
Tiger moray, 140cm

Scuticaria tigrina spends nearly all its time hiding away in holes in the reef. It does occasionally emerge at night, enabling Christina Sylvester to get these excellent photos. She has seen this species in the Kwajalein reef quarries four times.

Personally, we have seen only one of these at Kwajalein, the one figured immediately below with only its head poking out of a hole in the reef at night. One other individual (the second photob below) was photographed at night at Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands. They are probably more common, but rarely show themselves.

The photo below was taken in Hawaii, where we saw specimens more often.

Created 5 July 2017
Updated 16 August 2018

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