Misunderstood Moray Eels

22nd May 2008

A moray eel is simply a fish trapped in a snake-like body, and there the resemblance ends. A moray does not squirm, it swims. Having just one fin, its long dorsal fin does require it to make long, slow, undulating movements, but it is swimming nevertheless. Morays do themselves no favors as far as putting divers at ease around them. In order to pass water through their gills, they open and close their mouths constantly like a snapping dog. It may appear they are interested in tasting you, when in fact they are more interested in smelling you.
A fish's sense of smell is much more sophisticated than ours, and moray eels top the list. They can smell things we can only taste. Fish give off unique pheromones that a moray uses to determine the size and type of another fish. Two nasal canals on each side of the head pass water over sensitive cells that detect the presence of a potential meal, allowing the moray eel to hunt at night.

Eels eat invertebrates, fish, and other eels. They can locate sleeping fish tucked into crevices by smell alone, one of the reasons parrotfish wrap themselves inside smell-trapping cocoons. The eel's other secret weapon is its ability to move backwards, as few fish can do this. To make reversing possible, eels have very small scales covered in mucus and do not have gill covers that would snag on objects. This explains how snake eels manage to bury themselves tail first into the sand. Garden eels, too, will disappear tail first into their holes in the blink of an eye.

In the Caribbean you can find nearly 20 different species of eels, more than half of which are moray eels. The largest is the green moray, growing up to eight feet long and as thick as your thigh. The most common types are spotted and goldentail morays, two-four feet long. So don't be afraid the next time you see a moray eel showing you his dental work, he won't bite if you don't stick your hand in his mouth.

Linda Gettman

oldskool-1993

Linda - great write up. I dive with Morays every week here in Muscat - from small starry / yellow mouthed morays through to large (5 to 6 feet) honeycomb morays. Great photogenic creatures.

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