palenose moray
Echidna nocturna (Cope, 1872)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Palenose Moray (Echidna nocturna). Species of fish.
Alberto Pérez Alcalá · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
Echidna nocturna is a moray eel found in the eastern Pacific Ocean, in the Gulf of California and around Peru and the Galapagos Islands. It was first named by Cope in 1872, and is commonly known as the freckled moray or the palenose moray. It was discovered that Echidna nocturna and Muraena acutis are the same species.
Wikipedia contributors, Echidna nocturna; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T04:14:52.120539+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Echidna nocturna (Cope, 1872)
- Name authority
- (Cope, 1872)
- Common name
- palenose moray
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Anguilliformes
- Family
- Muraenidae
- Genus
- Echidna
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderAnguilliformes
- familyMuraenidae Rafinesque, 1815
- subfamilyMuraeninae Rafinesque, 1815
- genusEchidna Forster, 1788
- speciesEchidna nocturna (Cope, 1872)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Echidna. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Echidna unicolor Schultz, 1953 | MuraenidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| snowflake morayEchidna nebulosa (Ahl, 1789) | MuraenidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Echidna peli (Kaup, 1856) | MuraenidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| whiteface morayEchidna leucotaenia Schultz, 1943 | MuraenidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Echidna rhodochilus Bleeker, 1863 | MuraenidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Echidna sagamiensis Fujita, Oomori, Senou & Wada, 2026 | MuraenidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Echidna xanthospilos (Bleeker, 1859) | MuraenidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Poecilophis nocturnus Cope, 1872 Cope, 1872 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=278678 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:6DVQ9. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.