The second confirmed record and a significant range extension for the White Ribbon Eel (Pseudechidna brummeri) in Australia (2020)

Brief description

The white ribbon eel, Pseudechidna brummeri (Bleeker 1858) is a long, slender moray (family Muraenidae), inhabiting sheltered coastal reefs and seagrass beds of the tropical Indo-West Central Pacific region. Like many morays, it is widely distributed from the Western Indian Ocean, eastwards to the Society Islands, and northwards to southern Japan (Smith et. al. 2019). In Australia it was first recorded from two specimens collected at Murray Island (a.k.a Mer Island, ca. 0955'S, 14403'E) in the Torres Strait which are deposited in the Australian Museum, Sydney (Whitley, 1929). However, despite this published record, nearly 100 years later the species has not made its way into Australian fish checklists. This note describes the sighting of an adult-sized white ribbon eel off Green Island, 28km north east of the city of Cairns in far north Queensland.