Family MORINGUIDAE Gill 1885 (Spaghetti Eels)

Updated 13 Sept. 2024
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Moringua Gray 1831 etymology not explained, presumably a vernacular (perhaps Portuguese) corruption of muraena (L.), from from mýraina (μύραινα), Greek name of Muraena helena and precursor to “moray”

Moringua abbreviata (Bleeker 1863) Latin for shortened, referring to smaller size compared with M. javanicus

Moringua bicolor Kaup 1856 bi-, from bis (L.), twice, i.e., of two colors, referring to dark coloration above and silvery below

Moringua edwardsi (Jordan & Bollman 1889) in honor of American zoologist Charles Lincoln Edwards (1863–1937), Johns Hopkins Biological Laboratory (Green Turtle Cay, Bahamas), who collected holotype

Moringua ferruginea Bliss 1883 Latin for rust-colored, referring to “ochrous brown” dorsal color and/or reddish-brown spot at vent and pectoral fin

Moringua guthriana (McClelland 1844)ana (L.), belonging to: Capt. Charles Seton Guthrie (1808–1875), Bengal Engineers, for “service rendered by him to natural history,” including discovery of Cervus frontalis (misspelled frontalus, synonym of C. eldi), a deer described by McClelland in 1843

Moringua hawaiiensis Snyder 1904ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: Hawaiian Islands, type locality

Moringua javanica (Kaup 1856)ica (L.), belonging to: Java (Indonesia, Eastern Indian Ocean), type locality

Moringua macrocephala (Bleeker 1863) large-headed, from makrós (Gr. μακρός), long or large, and kephalḗ (Gr. κεφαλή), head, referring to its considerably larger head compared with M. abbreviata

Moringua macrochir Bleeker 1855 macro-, from makrós (Gr. μακρός), long or large; cheirós (Gr.χειρός), genitive of cheir (χείρ), hand, homologous to the pectoral fin, which is at least twice as long as it wide across the base

Moringua microchir Bleeker 1853 micro-, from mikrós (Gr. μικρός), small; cheirós (Gr.χειρός), genitive of cheir (χείρ), hand, homologous to the pectoral fin, referring to short, rudimentary pectoral fins

Moringua penni Schultz 1953 in honor of American invertebrate zoologist George H. Penn (1918–1963), who collected holotype while serving as Officer in Charge of a U. S. Navy malaria control team in Papua New Guinea

Moringua raitaborua (Hamilton 1822) from rata boura, Bengali vernacular for this eel

Neoconger Girard 1858 néos (Gr. νέος), new; conger, a conger eel but probably used here as a general term for a marine eel, i.e., a new genus of marine eels

Neoconger anaelisae (Tommasi 1960) in honor of Tommasi’s daughter, Ana Elisa

Neoconger hygomi Smith 2024 in honor of Vilhelm Hygom, a Danish ship captain who collected oceanographic material for the Zoological Museum in Copenhagen; the name was applied to the specimen in manuscript form in the museum but never published

Neoconger mucronatus Girard 1858 Latin for pointed, referring to its small, slender, narrow and pointed head

Neoconger torrei (Howell Rivero 1932) in honor of the author’s “ever esteemed professor,” Cuban zoologist Carlos de la Torre, who studied Cuban fishes

Neoconger tuberculatus (Castle 1965) Latin for warty or tuberculate, referring to single swelling of intestine near vent in leptocephalus

Neoconger vermiformis Gilbert 1890 vermis (L.), worm; formis (L.), shape or form, referring to its slender body