Fish Identification Photos: Jewel Moray Eel, Muraena lentiginosa: The Jewel Moray has an overall brown coloration but is covered with numerous small yellow circular spots. The head and jaws (sharp pointed, of equal length) are compressed and the body tapers posteriorly. The head depth is 1/7 of the body length and the body depth is 1/13 of the length at the middle.

The Jewel Moray Eel has a thick fleshy dorsal fin. The Jewel Moray Eel is found in the first 75 feet of the water column around rocky reefs. It reaches a maximum length of 2 feet. The distribution of the Jewel Moray Eel is limited to the lower two-thirds of the Sea of Cortez, along the coast of mainland Mexico and around most of the oceanic islands; it is absent from along the Pacific side of the Baja California peninsula. The Jewel Moray Eel might be confused with the Argus or White-Spotted Moray, Muraena argus, and the Hourglass Moray, Muraena cepsydra, but both of these have a prominent black spot around the gill openings.

The Jewel Moray Eel is one of several moray eels found in Mexican waters, all belonging to the Muraenidae Family which also includes the Snake Moray Eels.