A REVIEW OF THE INDO-PACIFIC BANDED MORAYS OF THE GYMNOTHORAX-RETICULARIS GROUP, WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF 3 NEW SPECIES (PISCES, ANGUILLIFORMES, MURAENIDAE)

The genus Gymnothorax is currently used as a category of convenience t o house a wide variety of generalized moray eels that do not clearly f it in any of the more specialized genera that are now recognized. It w ill likely continue to fill this function until a phylogenetic analysi s of all the species involved is completed. The type species of Gymnot horax is G. reticularis Bloch, 1795, hence it is important to know the limits and definition of this species. Our studies have shown that G. reticularis has long been confused with another species, G. minor (Te mminck and Schlegel, 1846). Five other species share important charact ers with G. reticularis and G. minor; three of them are undescribed. I n this paper, we redescribe Gymnothorax reticularis and distinguish it from the other species in the group. We describe three new species an d provide more detailed accounts of three other, previously described species.