Green moray. Relatives of eels are moray eels. Do moray eels have natural enemies

24.10.2019

This huge scary fish is very reminiscent of a snake and not only with the outlines of an elongated body. Like all eels, the moray eel swims and crawls like a true snake, noticeably bending its body.

Description of the moray eel

Small eyes, a constantly open mouth, sharp curved teeth, a serpentine body without scales - this is a typical moray eel from the moray family, included in the genus of ray-finned fish. Moray eels are not small: representatives of the smallest species grow up to 0.6 m with a weight of 8–10 kg, while giant moray eels grow up to almost 4 meters with a weight of 40 kg.

Appearance

Few people managed to see the moray eel in full growth, since during the day it almost completely climbs into a rocky crevice, leaving only its head outside. It seems to rare observers that the moray eel is grinning angrily: this impression is created due to the prickly look and constantly open mouth with large pointed teeth.

In fact, the muzzle of the moray eel embodies not so much hidden aggression as the innate instinct of an ambush predator - in anticipation of the victim, the moray eel practically freezes, but never closes its mouth.

Interesting. It has been suggested that the moray eel cannot close its mouth, as this is prevented by giant teeth. In fact, this is how the fish gets the oxygen it needs by passing water through its mouth and pumping it through the gills.

Moray eels do not have many teeth (23-28), forming one row and slightly curved back. Those species that mainly prey on crustaceans are armed with less sharp teeth adapted for crushing shells.

Moray eels have no tongue, but nature made up for this shortcoming by rewarding them with two pairs of nostrils resembling small tubes. Moray eels (like other fish) need nostrils not to breathe, but to smell. The moray eel's excellent sense of smell to some extent compensates for the capabilities of its weak visual apparatus.

Someone compares moray eels with snakes, someone with fantastic leeches: everything is to blame for the disproportionately elongated and laterally flattened torso. The resemblance to a leech arises from the thin tail, which contrasts with the thickened muzzle and front of the body.

Moray eels do not have pectoral fins, but the dorsal fin stretches along the entire ridge. The thick smooth skin is devoid of scales and painted in camouflage colors that echo the surrounding landscape.

The most popular shades and patterns of moray eels:

black;
grey;
brown;
white;
finely speckled pattern (polka dots, "marble", stripes and asymmetric spots).

Since the moray eel does not close its impressive mouth in ambush, the inner surface of the latter must match the color of the body so as not to violate the general disguise.

Types of moray eels

So far, different sources provide conflicting data on moray eel species. The most commonly mentioned figure is 200, while the genus Muraena consists of only 10 species. The list includes:

muraena appendiculata;
muraena argus;
muraena augusti;
muraena clepsydra;
muraena helena (European moray);
muraena lentiginosa;
muraena melanotis;
muraena pavonina;
muraena retifera;
muraena robusta.

Where did the number 200 come from? Approximately as many species are included in the family Muraenidae (Mourenovye), which is part of the eel-like order. This extensive family consists of two subfamilies (Muraeninae and Uropterygiinae), 15 genera and 85–206 species.

In turn, the subfamily Muraeninae includes the genus Murena, which includes 10 listed species. By and large, even the giant moray eel has an indirect relation to the genus Muraena: it belongs to the Moray family, but is a representative of another genus - Gymnothorax. No wonder the giant moray eel is also called the Javanese hymnothorax.

Character and behavior

There are a lot of speculations around snake-like fish that do not stand up to scrutiny upon close examination. The moray eel will not attack first if it is not provoked, teased and not shown intrusive attention (which inexperienced divers often sin).

Of course, hand-feeding moray eels is a spectacular sight, but at the same time extremely dangerous (as happens with careless handling of any wild predator). A disturbed fish will not stand on ceremony and can injure quite noticeably. Sometimes spontaneous aggression of moray eels is provoked not only by fear, but also by trauma, physiological state or malaise.

Even hitting a hook or harpoon, the moray eel will defend itself until its strength runs out. At first, she will try to hide in a crevice, dragging an underwater hunter behind her, but if the maneuver fails, she will begin to wriggle on land, crawl to the sea, fight and snap her teeth uncompromisingly.

Attention. Having bitten, the moray eel does not let go of the victim, but clings to it with a death grip (as a pit bull does) and shakes its jaw, which leads to the appearance of deep lacerations.

Few people managed to escape from the sharp teeth of the moray eels on their own, without resorting to outside help. The bite of this predatory fish is extremely painful, and the wound heals for a very long time (up to death).

By the way, it was the latter circumstance that led ichthyologists to the idea of the presence of poison in the dental canals of moray eels, in particular, ciguatoxin. But after a series of studies, moray eels were rehabilitated, recognizing that they do not have poisonous glands.

Slow healing of lacerations is now attributed to the action of bacteria that multiply on the remnants of food in the mouth: these microorganisms infect wounds.

Image and life expectancy

Moray eels - recognized loners respecting the principle of territoriality. Sometimes they are closely adjacent to each other, but only because of the tight fit of convenient crevices. There they sit all day long, occasionally changing position, but leaving monstrous heads outside. Most species are active at night, but there are exceptions that catch prey during daylight hours, usually in shallow water.

In tracking the victim, they have little help from sight, but mainly from an excellent sense of smell. If the nasal openings become clogged, it becomes a real disaster.

The teeth of many moray eels are located on two pairs of jaws, one of which is retractable: it sits deep in the throat and “rolls out” at the right moment to grab the victim and drag it into the esophagus. This design of the mouth apparatus is due to the narrowness of the holes: moray eels cannot (like other underwater predators) fully open their mouths in order to immediately pull the prey inside.

Important. Moray eels have almost no natural enemies. Two circumstances contribute to this - her sharp teeth and the strength with which she clings to the enemy, as well as her constant stay in natural shelters.

A free-swimming predator is rarely attacked by larger fish, but always quickly hides in the nearest rock gap. Some species are said to evade their pursuers by crawling away like snakes over land. It is also necessary to switch to a land-based mode of transportation during low tides.

No one has yet measured the life span of moray eels, but it is believed that most of the species live up to 10 years or more.

Range, habitats of moray eels

Moray eels are inhabitants of the seas and oceans, preferring salty warm waters. The amazing species diversity of these fish is noted in the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. A lot of moray eels have chosen the water expanses of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans (separate areas), as well as the Mediterranean Sea.

Moray eels, like many eel-like fish, rarely go deep, choosing rocky shallow waters and coral reefs with a depth of no more than 40 m. Moray eels spend almost their entire lives in natural shelters, such as internal cavities of large sponges, rock crevices and coral thickets.

Diet, what does the moray eel eat

The moray eel, sitting in ambush, lures a potential victim with nasal tubes (similar to annelids), moving them. The fish, confident that it has noticed sea worms, swims closer and gets into the teeth of the moray eel, which grabs it with a lightning throw.

The diet of moray eels is made up of almost all digestible marine life:

octopuses;
lobsters;
fish;
cuttlefish;
crabs;
squids;
sea urchins.

To catch large prey (for example, octopuses), as well as to cut it, moray eels use a special technique, the main tool of which is the tail. The moray eel wraps it around a tightly seated stone, ties it into a knot and begins to contract the muscles, moving the knot towards the head: the pressure in the jaws increases, which allows the predator to easily pull out pieces of pulp from the victim.

I don’t think that anyone was fascinated by admiring the appearance of moray eels - despite the often beautiful color of her body, the appearance of this fish is repulsive. The predatory look of small prickly eyes, an unpleasant mouth with needle-like teeth, a snake-like body and the unfriendly character of moray eels do not at all conducive to friendly communication.
Let's try to get to know this, in its own way interesting and unique fish. Perhaps our attitude towards her, at least a little, will warm up.
Moray eels (Muraena) belong to the genus of fish from the eel family (Muraenidae). About 200 species of moray eels live in the seas of the World Ocean. Most of them prefer warm waters of tropical and subtropical zones. A frequent visitor to coral reefs and underwater rocks.
Quite often they are found in the Red Sea, they also live in the Mediterranean. The Red Sea is home to snowflake moray, zebra moray, geometric moray, star moray, white-spotted moray, and elegant moray. The largest of them is the stellar moray eel, its average length reaches 180 cm.

The Mediterranean moray eel living in the Mediterranean Sea reaches 1.5 meters in length. It was her image that was the prototype for numerous legends and myths about these predatory fish with a rather unusual appearance. For permanent residence, they choose crevices in the rocks, shelters in underwater stone rubble, in general, places where you can safely hide a large and completely unprotected body. It lives mainly in the bottom layer of the seas.

The body color is camouflage, consistent with the surrounding landscape. More often, moray eels are painted in dark brown or grayish tones with spots that form a semblance of a marble pattern on the body. There are also uniformly colored, and even white individuals. Since the mouth of moray eels is of considerable size, its inner surface is painted to match the color of the body, so as not to unmask the moray eel when it opens its mouth wide. And the mouth of moray eels, almost always, is open. By pumping water through the open mouth into the gill openings, the moray eel increases the access of oxygen to the body.

The head bears small, round eyes that make the moray eels even more vicious. Behind the eyes are small gill openings, which usually have a dark spot. The anterior and posterior nasal openings of moray eels are located on the upper side of the snout - the first pair is represented by simple openings, while the second in some species has the shape of tubules, while in others it has the shape of leaves. If the moray eels "plug" the nasal openings, she will not be able to find her prey. An interesting feature of moray eels is the absence of a language. Their powerful jaws are seated with 23-28 sharp canine-shaped or awl-shaped teeth, bent back, which helps the moray eels to hold the caught prey. Almost all moray eels have teeth in one row, with the exception of the Atlantic green moray eel, in which an additional row of teeth is located on the palatine bone.

The teeth of moray eels are long and extremely sharp. In some species of moray eels, the diet of which is dominated by armored animals - crustaceans, crabs, teeth have a flattened shape. With such teeth, it is easier to split and grind the strong protection of the prey. Moray eels do not contain poison on their teeth. The jaws of all moray eels are very powerful, large in size. Moray eels have no pectoral fins, and the rest - the dorsal, anal and caudal fins have grown together into one train framing the back of the body.

Moray eels can reach considerable sizes. According to various sources, their length can be 2.5 or even more than 3 meters (the world's largest giant moray eel Thyrsoidea macrura). One and a half meter individuals weigh an average of 8-10 kg. Interestingly, males are smaller and "slenderer" than females. Here's a stronger sex for you!, with a weight of up to 40 kg. Among moray eels there are also small species, the length of which does not exceed ten centimeters. The average size of moray eels, most commonly seen by divers, is approximately one meter. As a rule, males are slightly smaller than females.

Moray eels breed with caviar. In the winter months, they gather in shallow water, where the eggs laid by the females are fertilized by the sex products of the males. Eggs and moray eel larvae hatched from them move in the water by sea currents and are carried over a large area of the seas. Moray eels are predators, their diet consists of various bottom animals - crabs, crustaceans, cephalopods, especially octopuses, medium-sized marine fish and even sea urchins. They forage mainly at night. Lurking in ambush, moray eels lie in wait for gaping prey, jumping out of it with an arrow if a potential victim appears within reach, and grab it with their sharp teeth. During the day, moray eels sit in their dwelling - crevices of rocks and corals, among large stones and other natural shelters and rarely hunt. The sight when the moray eel cracks down on its victim is rather unpleasant. She instantly tears her prey into small pieces with her long teeth, and in a matter of moments only memories remain from the victim.

Moray eels can hunt not only from ambush. The favorite delicacy of most moray eels is the octopus. In pursuit of this sedentary animal, the moray eel drives it into a "corner" - some kind of shelter or crevice and, sticking its head to its soft body, tears off piece by piece from it, starting with the tentacles, until it is torn into small pieces and eaten without a trace. Moray eels can swallow small prey whole, like snakes. When biting off a piece of the body from a large prey, the moray eel is often helped by its own tail, with which it, like a lever, increases the power of its jaws. A peculiar method of hunting is used by nosed moray eels. These relatively small representatives of moray eels are so named for the outgrowths above their upper jaw. These nasal outgrowths, oscillating in the current of water, resemble sedentary marine worms - polychaetes. The type of "prey" attracts small fish, which very quickly turn out to be the prey of a hidden predator.

In search of food, moray eels, like most nocturnal predators, rely on the sense of smell. Their eyesight is poorly developed, and even at night it is a poor helper in search of food. The moray eel victim can be felt at a considerable distance. The notoriety of fish dangerous to humans has been attached to moray eels since ancient times. In ancient Rome, noble citizens often kept moray eels in pools, growing them for food - the meat of these fish was extremely valued due to its specific taste. Quickly appreciating the ability of moray eels to be aggressive, the noble Romans used them as a tool to punish delinquent slaves, and sometimes they threw people into a cage with moray eels solely for the sake of entertainment. Indeed - oh, times! .. Oh, morals! .. Muren, before arranging such tortures or spectacles, they kept starving. When a person was in the pool, they pounced on him and, hanging on the victim, like bulldogs, shook their jaws, tearing out pieces of flesh.

There are different opinions about the danger of moray eels for people in their natural habitat. Some researchers consider it a fairly peaceful animal, using its teeth solely for the sake of protection from too annoying divers, others consider the moray eel an extremely dangerous sea creature. One way or another, there are many known cases of attacks and bites of people by moray eels. Here are some of them. In 1948, biologist I. Brock, who later became director of the Hawaiian Institute of Marine Biology at the University of Hawaii, was scuba diving near Johnston Island in the Pacific Ocean at shallow depths. Before Brock was immersed in the water, a grenade was thrown - this was part of the research program that the biologist was engaged in. Noticing a large moray eel in the water and thinking that she was killed by a grenade, Brock faked her with a spear. However, the moray eel, whose length was 2.4 meters, was far from dead: she rushed straight at the offender and grabbed his elbow. Moray eel, attacking a person, inflicts a wound that looks like a barracuda bite mark. But unlike the barracuda, the moray eel does not immediately swim away, but hangs on its prey, like a bulldog. Brock managed to rise to the surface and reach a boat waiting nearby. However, the surgeons had to deal with this wound for a long time, as it turned out to be very severe. The victim nearly lost his arm.

The well-known pop singer Dieter Bohlen (Modern Talking duet) also suffered from moray eels. During a dive in the Seychelles, a moray eel grabbed his leg, tearing the singer's skin and muscles. D. Bolen underwent surgery after this incident, and spent a whole month in a wheelchair. Once, specialists even had to relocate a pair of moray eels from a popular reef among tourists (Old cod hole, Great Barrier Reef, 1996). While feeding, the fish tore the hand of a diver from New Zealand so badly that it was not possible to save him. Unfortunately, the moray eels died during transportation.

I think that the above examples will help novice divers to assess the danger of meeting with moray eels and take measures to prevent such cases. These measures are simple - you should not provoke the moray eels to aggressive actions. Very rarely (usually starved) moray eels attack people for no reason. When you see a moray eel, you should not irritate this fish - approach its dwelling, try to stroke it, and even more so - put your hands into its shelter. Spearfishers should not shoot holes and crevices just to check if there is a moray eel there. If she really lives there, she will certainly attack you. If you don't provoke her, she won't touch you.

Directed fishing for moray eels is not conducted. They are caught in single specimens for consumption. It should be noted that the meat and some organs of moray eels at different times of the year may contain toxic substances that cause severe stomach cramps and nerve damage. Therefore, you should study this issue in more detail before trying the taste of moray eel meat.

Sometimes moray eels are kept in large aquariums. The behavior of these predators in a closed volume may not be the same. Often, moray eels show extreme aggressiveness towards their aquarium neighbors, sometimes they are completely indifferent to roommates. In captivity, moray eels can live for more than ten years. Moray eels, like all predatory fish, are an important link in the ecological balance of the seas where they live. Therefore, their extermination negatively affects the health of the fauna of these regions.

In ancient times, therefore, moray eels were considered terrible monsters. Then they believed in huge sea monsters that could swallow a whole ship. And this ability was attributed, in particular, to moray eels. Later in history, there were cases when they were trained to attack a person. But all this never prevented people from hunting moray eels. It is eaten and considered a delicacy, although its meat can be very poisonous. The ancient Romans kept moray eels in special pens to prepare them for feasts. They were a terrible execution for slaves. It's such a strange food chain. Moray eel ceviche is still popular in the Caribbean - a dish that is prepared in a very exotic way and rather brutal.

Moray eels are large serpentine fish known for their venom and aggressive nature. In fact, many facts about moray eels are greatly exaggerated. Almost 200 species of moray eels are united in the moray family. These fish are the closest relatives of other serpentine fish - eels.

Black-dotted moray eel (Gymnothorax fimbriatus).

All types of moray eels are large: the smallest ones reach a length of 60 cm and weigh 8-10 kg, and the world's largest giant moray eel (Thyrsoidea macrura) reaches a length of 3.75 m and weighs up to 40 kg! The body of moray eels is disproportionately long, slightly flattened laterally, but not completely flat. The back of the body looks thinner, and the middle and front parts of the body are slightly thickened, from which the moray eel resembles a giant leech. These fish have no pectoral fins at all, but the dorsal fin stretches along the entire length of the body. However, few people manage to see the moray eel in all its glory, in most cases its body is hidden in the crevices of the rocks, and only the head sticks out.

Mediterranean moray eels (Muraena helena) resemble giant leeches.

It is she, like no other part of the body, that makes the moray eel look like a snake. The muzzle of the moray eel is elongated with an evil expression of the eyes, the mouth is almost always open, and large sharp teeth can be seen in it. This impartial portrait served as a reason to reproach the moray eels with snake cunning and aggression. In fact, the expression of the moray eel's eyes is not so much angry as frozen, because these fish are ambush fish that spend a lot of time waiting for prey. The opinion that the moray eel cannot close its mouth due to too large teeth is also untenable. In fact, moray eels often sit with their mouths open, because they breathe through it, because in tight shelters the flow of water to the gills is difficult. Because of this, the mouth cavity of moray eels is painted, so the open mouth is not visible against the background of a motley reef. The moray eel has few teeth (23-28), they sit in one row and are bent slightly back, in species specializing in catching crustaceans, the teeth are less sharp, this allows the moray eel to crush the shells of crabs.

Another unusual feature of moray eels is the absence of a tongue and two pairs of nostrils. Like all fish, moray eels use their nostrils not for breathing, but only for smelling. The nostrils of moray eels are elongated into short tubes. Their body is covered with thick smooth skin without scales. The color of these fish is variegated, most often with a finely speckled pattern (less often striped, monophonic), but the colors are usually nondescript - brown, black, whitish-gray. However, there are exceptions. So, the ribbon rhinomurena at a young age (up to 65 cm long) is black, having matured, it becomes a bright blue male (while its length reaches 65-70 cm), and then adult males turn into yellow females (with a length of more than 70 cm) .

Young ribbon rhinomuraena (Rhinomuraena quaesita).

Moray eels are marine inhabitants. They are found only in salty warm waters. Moray eels reached the highest species diversity in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, they are also found in the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic and some parts of the Pacific Oceans. These fish are found mainly at shallow depths: in coral reefs and rocky shallow waters, the maximum habitat depth is up to 40 m, some species can crawl on land during low tide. In this, moray eels are very similar to their eel relatives. Moray eels keep most of their lives in shelters: crevices of underwater rocks, internal cavities of large sponges, between coral thickets. These fish are active mainly at dusk, so they see poorly, but they compensate for this shortcoming with an excellent sense of smell. With sealed nasal openings, moray eels are unable to detect prey.

Males of the ribbon rhinomurena. This species has leaf-like outgrowths instead of the usual nasal tubes for moray eels.

Moray eels live alone and adhere to permanent sites. In rare cases, when there are several convenient cracks nearby, moray eels can live side by side with each other, but this is a casual neighborhood, not friendship. The temper of the moray eel is an incredible mixture of rage and meekness. According to some divers, moray eels show friendliness and calmness and allow themselves to be touched. There are cases when moray eels during underwater filming got used to scuba divers so much that they swam with them and allowed themselves to be pulled out of the water. Ancient history claims that the Roman Crassus had a tame moray eel that sailed to the call. This allows us to talk about some semblance of intelligence in these fish. However, it opens only to subtle and tactful observers.

The yellow female of the ribbon rhinomurena is the final stage of color transformation.

In cases where moray eels are treated roughly, they react very harshly. A frightened and disturbed moray eel instantly attacks and can bite very hard. Moray eel bites are not only very painful, but also heal extremely poorly (up to several months), and deaths are also known. For this reason, poisonousness was previously attributed to moray eels (it was believed that the poison was in the teeth, like snakes), but studies did not reveal any poisonous glands in these fish. It is likely that the toxicity of their saliva may be due to pathogenic bacteria that multiply in the mouth among food debris and cause infection of the wound. Moray eels caught on a hook defend themselves to the last. At first, she tries to hide in her shelter and pulls back with great force, and when she is stretched out on land, she snaps her teeth furiously, beats, wriggles, tries to crawl away. This behavior was the reason for the greatly exaggerated opinion about the aggressiveness of these fish.

All types of moray eels are predators. They feed on fish, crabs, sea urchins, octopuses, cuttlefish. The moray eel lures its prey in ambush, attracting it with its swirling nasal tubes. These tubes resemble marine polychaete worms, many fish peck at this bait. As soon as the victim approaches a sufficient distance, the moray eel throws the front of the body forward with a lightning throw and grabs the victim. The narrow mouth of the moray eel is not suitable for swallowing large prey as a whole, so these fish have developed a special tactic for cutting prey. To do this, moray eels use ... a tail. Having wrapped its tail around some stone, the moray eel is literally tied into a knot, with muscle contractions it drives this knot to the head, while the pressure in the jaw muscles increases many times and the fish pulls out a piece of meat from the body of the victim. This method is also suitable for catching a strong prey (for example, an octopus).

The moray eel allows the cleaner shrimp to examine its mouth.

The reproduction of moray eels, like eels, is very poorly understood. Some species have separate sexes, while others change sex sequentially - from male to female (for example, the ribbon rhinomurena). Moray eel larvae are called leptocephals, as are eel larvae. Leptocephalic moray eels have a rounded head and a rounded caudal fin, their body is completely transparent, and the length at birth barely reaches 7-10 mm. It is extremely difficult to see such a larva in the water; besides, leptocetals swim freely and are carried by currents over rather long distances. Thus, the spread of sedentary moray eels occurs. The drift period lasts 6-10 months, during which time the leptocephalus grows up and begins to lead a sedentary lifestyle. Moray eels reach sexual maturity by 4-6 years. The life expectancy of these fish has not been precisely established, but it is long. It is reliably known that most species can live for more than 10 years.

Spawning is that rare case when moray eels form clusters of several individuals.

Moray eels have practically no enemy. Firstly, they are protected by natural shelters in which these fish spend most of their lives. Secondly, with a large and strong fish, armed with sharp teeth, not everyone wants to fight. If during free swimming (and this happens infrequently), the moray eel is pursued by another fish, then it tries to hide in the nearest crevice. Some species can escape from a pursuer by crawling to a safe distance on land.

A moray eel has a complex relationship with a person. On the one hand, people have always feared these predators and avoided close contact with them in the natural environment. On the other hand, moray eel meat has long been famous for its excellent taste. Famous gourmets of the ancient Romans valued the meat of the Mediterranean moray eel along with the meat of its freshwater and small relative - eel. Moray eels were served at feasts as a delicacy and in large quantities. Therefore, despite the fear, people have been catching moray eels for a long time, and the Romans even learned to breed them in cages. Now the experience of breeding moray eels in captivity has been lost and these fish are not grown artificially, especially since cases of poisoning by moray eels are known in tropical regions. Poisoning is caused by toxins that accumulate in meat when moray eels eat poisonous tropical fish. However, in the Mediterranean basin, where poisonous species are not found, episodic fishing is practiced.

Moray eels are a genus of fish from the moray family of the eel order. Representatives of moray eels are often found in the Mediterranean and Red Seas. They also live in the waters of the Atlantic and Indian oceans.

Moray eels are predatory fish shaped like snakes. Their appearance is quite disgusting and frightening: a huge mouth, cold small eyes. Although some species have a fairly bright and attractive color. For example, here is a photo of a nosed moray eel that lives in coral reefs.

Moray eels can be described as follows: the body is strong, serpentine, gill openings are small and round. In the photo below, there is a green moray eel and a small circle of gill opening is clearly visible in it.

Continuing the description of the appearance of moray eels, it is necessary to indicate that they do not have pectoral fins. The rest of the fins (dorsal, caudal and anal) are fused and form a single fin fold.

The eyes of moray eels are small and round. The mouth is large, its edges reach the level of the eyes; teeth are awn, in some species rather large.

Saber-toothed moray eels are the most toothy type of moray eels.

In total, about 120 species of moray eels have been found in the World Ocean. They love warm waters, are permanent inhabitants of coral reefs and underwater rocks, that is, they are lovers of such types of bottom surface, which are replete with various shelters.

Two genera of moray eels live in the Red Sea: Echidna and Gymnothorax. The genus Echidna includes the snowflake moray eel and the zebra moray eel; to the genus Gymnothorax is a geometric moray eel, a star moray eel, a white-spotted and elegant moray eel. The largest of these species is the stellar moray, its representatives can reach 180 cm in length.

The Mediterranean moray eel is found in the Mediterranean Sea, its length reaches up to one and a half meters.

It was the Mediterranean moray eel that was the prototype of sea monsters in the legends of antiquity.

The body color of moray eels is camouflage. Its tones and shades depend on the palette of the environment. The main task of the predator is to merge with the terrain so that the inattentive prey approaches within attack distance. It is worth noting that even the inner side of the mouth of moray eels can camouflage color, well, with such a huge mouth, this is not surprising.

The color of the mucus can noticeably distort the skin color of the moray eel.

Moray eels prefer to hunt at night. To do this, they do not leave their shelters, but wait for prey. During hunting, moray eels rely on the sense of smell, their eyesight is poorly developed. Moray eels are short-sighted, but vision is not so important for nocturnal predators.

To catch the “smell” of prey in the water, the moray eel opens its mouth wide and swims, passing streams of water through itself.

An experiment was conducted with moray eels: they were thrown food, some pieces of which were smeared with paraffin, which prevented the spread of odors. Moray eels did not eat such pieces of food, even if they fell into the mouth of the fish, she spat them out. But as soon as the layer of paraffin was destroyed by contact with the teeth of moray eels or with stones, a smell appeared, moray eels immediately ate this food as well.

Moray eels almost always have an open mouth. Since moray eels do not have gill covers, the moray eel constantly opens and closes its mouth to constantly access new water to the gills.

Moray eels have two pairs of nasal openings: anterior and posterior. They are located on the upper side of the snout of the fish. The anterior pair are ordinary holes, and the posterior pair can take the form of tubules or leaflets, in different species in different ways.

The sense of smell is the main hunting tool of the moray eel, if she is "plugged her nose", then she will not be able to hunt.

Moray eels have no tongue.

Powerful jaws of moray eels are "armed" with 24-28 sharp teeth. The teeth may be canine-shaped or awl-shaped, curved back. This structure of the teeth helps the moray eel to keep the caught prey.

In all species of moray eels, with one exception, the teeth are arranged in one row. An exception is the Atlantic green moray, this species has an additional row of teeth on the palatine bone.

Moray teeth are powerful and sharp. There are species of moray eels whose diet mainly consists of crabs and other panzer animals. The teeth of such species have a flattened shape that allows them to split and grind the strong shells of their prey.

The average size of moray eels that divers meet is about one meter.

Male moray eels, as a rule, are inferior in size to females, but not by much.

Moray eels reproduce by caviar, it is worth noting that there are viviparous fish. For breeding in winter, moray eels gather in shallow water, females lay eggs and males fertilize them. The eggs are carried by the current over long distances.

Moray eels do not breed in captivity. But there was one exception - in January 2014, at the Vienna Zoo, a female banded moray eel laid fertilized eggs. These eggs turned out to be viable and some of them hatched.

Unfortunately, there is no information about what moray eel larvae eat and what conditions they need. Zoo Aquarium workers could not provide everything necessary for the survival of newborn moray eels. Small moray eels lived only a week.

The size of the larvae barely reached a centimeter, but they resembled sea monsters with huge sharp teeth.

Being a nocturnal predator, during the day the moray eel hides in its shelter and is not active.

The hunting method of moray eels is cruel. She tries to tear her victim apart and does it very quickly.

Moray eels love to eat octopuses. They drive the mollusk into a corner, although the sedentary octopuses themselves try to hide from the predator in a shelter. But the trapped octopus has no chance. The moray eel is flexible like a snake and can stick its head into any gap. She systematically tears off pieces of flesh from a soft mollusk until she eats the prey without a trace.

When biting off a piece from the body of the victim, the moray eel often uses its muscular tail as a lever. This technique greatly increases the strength and power of her jaws.

Nosed moray eels are not a large species of moray eels. They hunt in a very interesting way. Above their upper jaw there are outgrowths, after which they got their name.

These nasal outgrowths fluctuate in the flow of water and remind the fish of their food - polychaete marine worms. Such false "prey" attracts small fish, which become food for nosed moray eels.

Moray eel meat has a specific taste. In ancient Rome, it was valued and wealthy citizens used to keep moray eels in special pools, growing them for food.

The aggressiveness of moray eels has also found its application. There was such a punishment for the guilty slaves - to throw them into the pool to be eaten by moray eels. Previously, moray eels were not fed and teased. When a person was in the pool, hungry and aggressive predators pounced on him, grabbed him with their jaws with sharp teeth and tried to tear out pieces of flesh.

But well-fed moray eels are not so aggressive. Below is a video from the Winnipeg Aquarium. The green moray eel behaves with the diver like an affectionate kitten.

In the history of cases of moray eels attacking people, quite a bit is known. There are completely different opinions about the danger of moray eels for people.

Someone considers moray eels dangerous representatives of underwater life and advises to avoid meeting with them. Someone claims that moray eels are dangerous only when defending themselves from unexpected guests.

In any case, if a diver has found a moray eel, then you should not disturb her peace. You should not try to stroke her, and even more so put your hand in her shelter. Such a "feat" can cost health.

Back in 1948, biologist and researcher I. Brock, who soon became director of the Hawaiian Institute of Marine Biology at the University of Hawaii, conducted underwater research with scuba gear near Johnston Island in the Pacific Ocean. The research was carried out at a shallow depth, first a grenade was thrown into the water, then Brock sank to the bottom. During one of the dives, Brock noticed a large moray eel in the water. Thinking that she was killed by the explosion, Brock faked her with a spear. But the moray eel rushed at the offender and grabbed his elbow, and the length of the predator was more than two meters. Moray eels do not release prey until they tear out a piece of flesh, but Brock managed to get to the surface and climb back onto the boat. The wound turned out to be severe and the surgeons fought for a long time to save the hand.

The famous singer Dieter Bohlen (Modern Talking duet) also suffered from the moray eel attack. During a scuba dive in the Seychelles, the moray eel grabbed the singer's leg, severely damaging not only the skin, but also the muscles. After the incident, Dieter Bohlen underwent surgery and was confined to a wheelchair for a month.

In 1996, specialists caught two large moray eels on the Great Barrier Reef, which is popular among tourists, for the purpose of resettlement. The reason was the attack of moray eels on a diver from New Zealand, they injured his arm so badly that he died from loss of blood. Both moray eels died during transportation.

Do not provoke moray eels. Remember, in the wild, everyone eats everyone, and attempts to stroke or touch the moray eels will be regarded as an attempt to attack. The fish will defend themselves, and she knows how to do it.

If the moray eel is not provoked, it does not attack. Cases of unmotivated aggression on the part of moray eels are very rare, perhaps such moray eels were simply tortured by hunger.

Industrial fishing for moray eels is not conducted. For consumption, they are caught in single specimens.

For cooks, you need to know that some organs of moray eels may contain poisons that cause severe stomach cramps. This issue needs to be studied separately before trying to cook dishes from moray eels.

In the photo: green moray in the state aquarium of Texas.

Like other predators, moray eels are an important link in biological systems, helping to maintain the balance of ecological balance. The extermination of moray eels will lead to catastrophic changes in the biosystems in which they live.

In ancient times, legends circulated among people about huge sea monsters that could swallow ships whole. This role was also attributed to moray eels. Moray eels were also trained to attack people. But all this never prevented people from eating moray eels.

Watch a movie about moray eels from National Gepgraphic:

Moray eels are undoubtedly very graceful animals, but few people know that these fish are able to effectively hunt with other types of fish like sea bass, but they also pose a certain danger to humans, especially to unwary divers.

Moray eels are eels from the moray family (lat. Muraenidae). There are approximately 200 species and all of them are almost exclusively marine animals, but a few species are regularly found in brackish water and some, like the freshwater moray eel (lat. Gymnothorax polyuranodon), can sometimes be found in fresh water. With a maximum length of 11.5 cm (4.5 in), the smallest moray eel is most likely the Snyder moray eel (lat. Anarchias leucurus), while the longest species, like the slender giant moray eel (lat. Strophidon sathete), grow up to 4 meters (13 feet) long. The largest in terms of weight is the giant moray eel (lat. Gymnothorax javanicus), which reaches almost 3 meters (9.8 ft) in length and can weigh over 36 kg (79 lb).

Moray eels are often mistaken for vicious and grumpy animals. They have to constantly open and close their mouths to keep water circulating through their gills, allowing them to breathe. Apparently, we perceive the opening of the mouth as aggressive behavior, but this is how they just breathe! In truth, moray eels hide from people in cracks and crevices, they prefer to run away than attack. Moray eels are shy and secretive, and only attack humans in self-defense or misidentification. Most of the attacks occur from approaching the moray eel den, but also attacks occur while hand-feeding moray eels by divers, a practice often used by diving companies to attract tourists.

Moray eels have poor eyesight and rely mainly on their keen sense of smell, which is why it is difficult for them to find the boundary between their fingers and food held by the hand. Many divers have lost their fingers while trying to feed moray eels. For this reason, hand feeding of moray eels is prohibited in some places, including the Great Barrier Reef (Australia). Moray eels have a special way of capturing prey, but this is a very strong mechanism due to which the eel will not let go of the prey, even if it is threatened with death and therefore it is necessary to open its jaws manually. While most are not considered poisonous, circumstantial evidence suggests that some species may be.

Video. Interesting about moray eels

Eels that eat certain types of toxic algae, or more often fish that have eaten some of these algae, can lead to sigwater (fish poisoning). During the day, moray eels rest in crevices and hunt at night, although they may chase small fish and crustaceans that swim by during the day.

Moray eels are found in tropical and temperate seas, although a wide variety can be found on reefs in warm oceans. Very few species are found outside the tropics and subtropics, and those that briefly venture outside these regions. They live at depths up to several hundred meters, where they spend most of their time hiding inside crevices and burrows. While a few species are regularly found in brackish water, very few species can be found in fresh water, such as the freshwater moray (lat. Gymnothorax polyuranodon) and pink-lipped moray (lat. Echidna rhodochilus).

Despite the serpentine appearance, the moray eel is a fish, not a reptile or amphibian. Adult moray eels lack pectoral and pelvic fins, but have long fins that extend from the back of the head to the tail and along the entire belly. Although it may seem that this is one fin, there are actually three of them: an elongated dorsal, caudal and anal fin. Moray eels move like swimming snakes, thanks to their undulating movements, they are able to cut through the water very quickly.

A photo. The second jaws of moray eels

Moray eels are piscivorous, which means that they eat other fish (even small moray eels). Like some other fish-eating fish, moray eels have two jaws. They have regular jaws in their mouths, called oral jaws, and a second jaw in their throat, called pharyngeal jaws. Unlike other fish with jaws, the second jaws of moray eels are very mobile. After the moray eel bites the food, the second jaw moves forward to grab the food inside the mouth and drag it down the throat to swallow it completely.

Thus, the caught fish has practically no chance of salvation. Interestingly, while the existence of second jaws has been known for quite some time, the mechanism of swallowing food by moray eels was only fully elucidated only in 2007.

Divers who closely observed the moray eel may not have noticed that it has smooth skin. The skin cells of the moray eel secrete a protective mucous coating that protects them from infection and contact. Never touch the moray eel, as this can harm its delicate protection.

The covering of moray eels also serves other purposes. When buried in sand, they restore their defenses by sticking grains of sand. In some species, the coating also affects their color. Green moray eels look brown without their mucus, but the yellow color of their mucosa, when combined with skin color, results in a brilliant shade of green.

Moray eels can hunt alone or in groups. When moray eels hunt in groups, they do not associate with other moray eels, but do so with fish of other species. This type of hunting is known as "nuclear hunting" and is seen in some other fish species such as flutefish and groupers (lat. Plectropomus pessuliferus). The book Reef Fish Behavior by Paul Humann and Ned DeLoach details the nuclear hunting behavior of moray eels:

A photo. Joint hunting of moray eels and sea bass

Video. Grouper and moray hunt together

“The moray almost always waits for the sea bass to position itself next to its body before making a dash. In either case, the fish makes contact with the moray eel by shaking its head in front of its head. It looks like the two animals are cooperating on the next coral hunt together, the sea bass can close the escape route while the moray eel intrudes behind the dark curtain.” One way or another, one of the animals gets food.

A photo. Shrimps clean the mouth of the moray eel

Known attacks of moray eels on people

Moray bit off diver's thumb
This happened in 2005 in the Similan Islands in Thailand. Matt Boucher, dive instructor worked aboard the Liveaboard MV Queen Scuba Similans as an underwater videographer. He had already made five or six dives among the moray eels. A year or two ago, he first saw how these fish are fed. Matt regularly fed moray eels when he dived. He wanted to get high-quality pictures of moray eels during his dive. Clients loved it when they watched the videos in the evenings, especially when the moray eels took their food straight from Matt's hands. Matt tended to take the sausages, mostly because they were left over after breakfast and didn't disintegrate underwater. Unfortunately, to Matt, the sausages looked like fingers.

The next day, Matt went swimming with his girlfriend Becks, who worked as a dive instructor on the boat. It was like any other day, but the level of anxiety was high as they knew they were going to see the giant moray again. The first part of the dive was not interesting, and Matt and Becks hurried to the coral. Visibility was about twenty meters, Matt and Becks saw a floating moray eel. It is normal for moray eels to emerge from crevices and explore any divers that come close to her coral lair. Matt fed the moray several times, she returned to the coral and hid in it, only the protruding head remained. In order to persuade her to swim again, Matt decided to feed her from his bag where there was food. He gave the camera to Becks and signaled to her to film him feeding the moray eel. This was the first time Bex had ever held a camera underwater. Matt got confused several times when he took food out of a plastic bag, because due to the movements of the water it was difficult for him to find an opening to pull out a sausage from there. Murena noticed that a bag of food had appeared and swam very close to Matt, concentrating on finding the open end of the bag. Moray smelled food and was impatient.

A photo. lurking moray eel

A photo. Moray eyeing

Initially, Matt simply felt some pressure on his left thumb and tried to pull his hand out. That's when the moray eel stopped all the efforts of the man and better grabbed the thumb. All this happened very quickly. Matt knew he should take his thumb out of her mouth, but he wasn't prepared for what happened next. He looked at the moray eel attached to his arm as the blood began to create a blood cloud around him. He stuck two fingers of his right hand into her mouth and tried to open her jaw to get his thumb out. She bit again and more blood came out into the ocean. Murena was not going to let go.

The moray floated away and everything seemed calm... Matt looked down at his hand to see the torn flesh and thumb bone. The thumb is gone. Matt glanced back towards the moray eel to see it swallow his thumb and return to its coral. Becks was wide-eyed and motionless. She couldn't believe what had just happened. She was just filming one of her best friends who had her thumb bitten off by a giant moray eel before her eyes.

Matt didn't panic and made a slow and controlled climb to the surface. At this moment, Claude from the yacht Queen Scuba, sailed past him with a group of divers. Matt showed Claude his hand and pointed out that he had a problem. Claude smiled and continued his dive, believing that Matt was joking. When Matt rose to the surface, the water began to turn red. There was a lot of blood. But the surface of the blood sprayed 50 cm into the air. It was like a fountain, as the tiny arteries were completely severed and opened. Matt yelled loudly at the boat to get him. The boat driver was horrified when he saw the extent of Matt's injury and blood in the water. A compress was applied to the boat and the bleeding was largely stopped. After a quick stop on one of the islands, Matt was sent to the mainland on a motorboat with Becks. A taxi was waiting at the pier to take them to a Bangkok hospital, and after a couple of hours of driving, Matt's arm was quickly operated on to close the wound.

Matt spent a week in the hospital and accumulated a fantastic bill. In addition, they paid for the evacuation from the Similan Islands. The total bill was about half a million baht (about 14 thousand dollars).

Video. Moray bit off diver's finger

He was offered the amputation of one of his toes and transplanted to his hand to replace the missing toe. It was necessary to connect all the nerves, tendons and blood vessels, and, in fact, it would be like a new thumb. It took five months. The operation was expensive.

Matt turned to Divers Alert Network (DAN Europe) for insurance. A few days later they gave the go-ahead for the operation. They agreed to cover all expenses, which cost about 600,000 baht ($16,500).

A month after the operation, the transplant took root and Matt returned to diving. It is worth noting that Matt no longer harbors hatred for moray eels or any other marine life. He still sometimes dives in the same place and always keeps an eye on his old friend. He knows it was his stupid mistake and that he shouldn't have fed her. It was a painful way to learn a lesson...

Irish diver attacked by conger eel
year 2013. Jimmy Griffin, 48, a Galway scuba diver, said of the Killary attack: “Suddenly I got hit in the face really hard. I felt like a rag doll. He grabbed my face and started shaking violently. It bit, pulled, and twirled around my face. I got a terrible feeling of numbness in the right side of my face. My regulator fell out and my vision got really blurry from the blood in the water. The blood looked like octopus ink, very dark.”

A photo. Sea eel

A photo. Eel bite wound

A photo. Stitches on a man's face after he was bitten by a conger eel

Galway Bakery Owner Jimmy had made over 200 dives and knew he had to stay calm in the situation. “I shouldn’t have panicked 25 meters underwater. My regulator (breathing apparatus) was knocked out of my mouth, so panic could have led to my drowning. When he finally let go, I saw that it was a sea eel larger than myself, over six feet long,” Jimmy recalled.

The good news for Griffin was that the plastic surgeons did a fantastic job. "I don't even know how many stitches I've had inside and outside my mouth, but they say the scar will eventually be invisible," he said. He received 20 stitches in his face.

Surfer attacked by moray eel in Hawaii
On October 17, 2015, a 33-year-old local man was surfing on Waikiki Beach when he felt pain in his left leg. He made it to the shore, where passers-by used a towel to stop the bleeding, after medical workers arrived. Although a spokesman for the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources said he had never heard of moray eel attacks in the state, officials found no sign of a shark attack and believe the person's injuries sound like a moray eel bite, not a shark.

Although moray eels often visit coral reefs in Hawaii, officials have not come to a concrete conclusion. At the same time, experts do not exclude other options, noting that recently barracudas have also been seen near Waikiki. Hours before the attack, another person was injured, although officials suspect that in this case a tiger shark may have been responsible for the attack. Witnesses reported that a 44-year-old man was swimming with a friend 50-100 meters from the shore when he was bitten. "Both legs just above the ankle just hung," said one passerby. The man was taken to the hospital in critical condition.

Documentary film of 2010 Moray eels. Alien Empire"

Moray eel attacked a scuba diver when he interfered with the mating ritual
Polish underwater photographer Bartosz Lukasik was attacked by a large moray eel while diving on a coral reef in South Africa in February 2018. He captured on camera the moment he was chased into Sodwana Bay by a devastated fish.

He was filming two eels when one of them suddenly turned and chased him for almost 15 meters. He believes that the moray eels attacked him because he interrupted the ritual of courtship and mating with his appearance, which undoubtedly angered one of the moray eels.

“Fortunately no one was hurt in this situation. I quickly swam away, the eel pursued me for about 10-15 meters, but in the end, everything was fine. Of course, I did not expect such a situation and did not want to provoke him. I take great care not to interfere with marine life when I'm filming and always try to keep enough distance so that both I and the subject feel comfortable,” commented Lukasik.

Video. Moray eel attacked a diver

However, he was suspected of trying to promote another older entry from 2015, these entries are completely identical. However, the video shows the very moment of the attack on the operator.