:Ribbon eel

Ribbon eels are a diurnal species (active during the daytime).{{Cite journal |last1=Wang |first1=Feng Yu |last2=Tang |first2=Meng Yun |last3=Yan |first3=Hong Young |date=2011 |title=A comparative study on the visual adaptations of four species of moray eel |url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2011.02.025 |journal=Vision Research |volume=51 |issue=9 |pages=1099–1108 |doi=10.1016/j.visres.2011.02.025 |pmid=21385593 |issn=0042-6989|url-access=subscription }} The species is characterized by its long, thin body and high dorsal fins. The ribbon eel can easily be recognized by its expanded anterior nostrils and wide-open jaws. These eels can have up to 255 vertebrae in their back bone, making them one of the most narrow and elongated eel species known.{{Cite journal |last=Fishelson |first=L. |date=1990-06-01 |title=Rhinomuraena spp. (Pisces: Muraenidae): The first vertebrate genus with post-anally situated urogenital organs |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01344294 |journal=Marine Biology |language=en |volume=105 |issue=2 |pages=253–257 |doi=10.1007/BF01344294 |bibcode=1990MarBi.105..253F |issn=1432-1793|url-access=subscription }}File:Ribbon Eel.jpg

File:Ribbon Moray Rhinomuraena quaesita (7963681710).jpgThe ribbon eel larva is described as a large, greenish leptocephalus.{{Cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=Michael J. |last2=Rutgers |first2=Rob |last3=Haythorne |first3=Barry |last4=Yavuzdoğan |first4=Tunç |last5=Obata |first5=Seishoku |last6=Wu |first6=Tony |last7=Rutgers |first7=Henny |last8=Powell |first8=Jerry |last9=Tsukamoto |first9=Katsumi |date=2013 |title=Observations of large muraenid leptocephali in coastal Indonesia: locations of sightings and behaviour of the larvae |url=http://www.journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S1755267213000079 |journal=Marine Biodiversity Records |language=en |volume=6 |doi=10.1017/S1755267213000079 |bibcode=2013MBdR....6E..82M |issn=1755-2672|url-access=subscription }} Based on observed color changes, it is generally considered a protandic hermaphrodite (male to female transformation).{{Cite journal |last1=De Mitcheson |first1=Yvonne Sadovy |last2=Liu |first2=Min |date=2008 |title=Functional hermaphroditism in teleosts |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-2979.2007.00266.x |journal=Fish and Fisheries |language=en |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=1–43 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-2979.2007.00266.x |bibcode=2008AqFF....9....1D |issn=1467-2960|url-access=subscription }} When necessary, male ribbon eels will develop reproductive organs, lay eggs, and then die. This developmental stage happens within about a month.{{Cite book |last=Nezhukumatathil |first=Aimee |title=World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments |publisher=Milkweed Editions |year=2020 |isbn=978-1571313652 |location=Minneapolis |pages=123–125}}

In their juvenile and subadult stages, ribbon eels appear primarily jet black with a yellow dorsal fin. In adult males, the black is replaced by a vibrant blue and yellow facial appearance. An adult female is entirely yellow or yellow with some blue to the posterior.{{Cite book |last1=Lieske |first1=Ewald |title=Coral reef fishes: Caribbean, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Ocean including the Red Sea |last2=Myers |first2=Robert F. |date=1999 |publisher=Princeton university press |isbn=978-0-691-00481-5 |location=Princeton (N.J.)}} Color change related to sex change is not known from any other moray eel species. The blue adult males range from {{convert|65|to|94|cm|in|abbr=on}} in length, while the larger yellow females can reach up to {{convert|130|cm|in|abbr=on}}.{{Cite book |title=Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea |date=1990 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-1346-8 |editor-last=Randall |editor-first=John E. |series=A CHP book |location=Honolulu |editor-last2=Allen |editor-first2=Gerald R. |editor-last3=Steene |editor-first3=Roger}} It is presumed that even with its significant color changes throughout its development, coloring does not play a significant role in mating for a ribbon eel because the eels are colorblind (possessing only one of the two photoreceptor cells required to see colors). In its natural habitat, ribbon eels can live up to twenty years.

{{Clear|left}}File:Blue ribbon eel (Rhinomuraena quaesita) (16059233369).jpg

Ribbon eels prefer more shallow-water areas compared to other moray eels, frequenting a depth range of 1 to 57 meters. This species is widely distributed and are seen by divers in Indonesian waters with their heads and anterior bodies protruding from crevices in sand and rubble habitats, like coral reefs, which they are able to slip through with their slime coat.{{Cite journal |last1=Pfaff |first1=Cathrin |last2=Zorzin |first2=Roberto |last3=Kriwet |first3=Jürgen |date=2016-08-11 |title=Evolution of the locomotory system in eels (Teleostei: Elopomorpha) |journal=BMC Evolutionary Biology |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=159 |doi=10.1186/s12862-016-0728-7 |doi-access=free |issn=1471-2148 |pmc=4981956 |pmid=27514517|bibcode=2016BMCEE..16..159P }} Typically, ribbon eels can be found in tropical parts of the Indian and Pacific Ocean, ranging from East Africa to southern Japan, Australia, and French Polynesia.

The ribbon eel is the only species in its genus, Rhinomuraena, in the subfamily Muraeninae of the moray eel family. Its unique morphology, such as its gonad structure and function are not shared with many of the other major genera in the family and provided evidence for separation. Typically, eels of the family urogenital system follow a posterior pattern toward the anus of the eel, but the Rhinomuraena system has its sex cells move anteriorly. This change is presumed to be due to some evolutionary cause, like peripatric speciation. Previously, R. quaesita was used to identify the blue ribbon eels and R. amboinensis was used for black ribbon eels, but these are now recognized as the same species, R. quaesita.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}

Its closest known relative is the pink-lipped moray (Echidna rhodochilus), which does not form a monophyletic group with the other Echidna species.{{Cite journal |last=Reece |first=Joshua S. |last2=Bowen |first2=Brian W. |last3=Smith |first3=David G. |last4=Larson |first4=Allan |date=2010-11-01 |title=Molecular phylogenetics of moray eels (Muraenidae) demonstrates multiple origins of a shell-crushing jaw (Gymnomuraena, Echidna) and multiple colonizations of the Atlantic Ocean |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S105579031000312X |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=829–835 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2010.07.013 |issn=1055-7903|url-access=subscription }}

Ribbon eels are labeled "least concerned" on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as of 2009.{{Cite report |url=http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/155301/0 |title=Rhinomuraena quaesita: McCosker, J.E.: The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010: e.T155301A115297865 |last=IUCN |date=2009-02-04 |publisher=International Union for Conservation of Nature |doi=10.2305/iucn.uk.2010-4.rlts.t155301a4770176.en |language=en}} Recent studies on the effects of various environmental factors on marine eels have presented potential threats to the ribbon eel population. Marine eels that prefer to stay in shallower waters, specifically around coral reef habitats, are most at risk of suffering from the impacts of coral bleaching and other marine habitat damage caused by climate change or human activity (i.e. pollution).{{Cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=M. J. |last2=Wouthuyzen |first2=S. |last3=Aoyama |first3=J. |last4=Sugeha |first4=H. Y. |last5=Watanabe |first5=S. |last6=Kuroki |first6=M. |last7=Syahailatua |first7=A. |last8=Suharti |first8=S. |last9=Hagihara |first9=S. |last10=Tantu |first10=F. Y. |last11=Trianto |last12=Otake |first12=T. |last13=Tsukamoto |first13=K. |date=2021 |title=Will the High Biodiversity of Eels in the Coral Triangle be Affected by Climate Change? |url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/789/1/012011 |journal=IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science |language=en |volume=789 |issue=1 |pages=012011 |doi=10.1088/1755-1315/789/1/012011 |bibcode=2021E&ES..789a2011M |issn=1755-1315|url-access=subscription }} The shift in habitat structure and diversity could make it harder for ribbon eels to find enough prey to survive and reproduce. Overfishing is another concern as it can lead to a reduction in the number of ribbon eels and their available prey.

Most ribbon eels do not live longer than a year in captivity. Ribbon eels have been observed in many cases to stop eating after being captured and put into home aquariums. Higher levels of success have been achieved in public aquaria, where there are a few reported cases of spawning at facilities in Europe and North America.{{cite journal |last1=Preininger |first1=D. |last2=Halbauer |first2=R. |last3=Bartsch |first3=V. |last4=Weissenbacher |first4=A. |year=2015 |title=First observations of fertilized eggs and preleptocephalus larvae of Rhinomuraena quaesita in the Vienna Zoo. |journal=Zoo Biol. |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=85–88 |doi=10.1002/zoo.21184 |pmid=25385394}} In captivity, the color differences are not related to maturity or gender.

Although captured for the aquarium industry, it remains common and widespread, and is not considered threatened.

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• {{ITIS |id=635624 |taxon=Rhinomuraena quaesita |accessdate=19 March 2006}}

{{Spoken Wikipedia|Ribbon_eel.ogg|date=2019-09-25}}{{Commons category|Rhinomuraena quaesita}}

{{Wikispecies|Rhinomuraena quaesita}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q917209}}

Category:Muraenidae

Category:Fish described in 1888