Moray eels are large serpentine fish known for their poisonous and aggressive nature. In fact, many facts about moray eels are greatly exaggerated. Almost 200 species of moray eels are combined into the moray eel family. These fish are close relatives of other serpentine fish - eels.
Black-spotted moray eel (Gymnothorax fimbriatus).
All types of moray eels are large: the smallest ones reach 60 cm in length and weigh 8-10 kg, and the world's largest giant moray eel (Thyrsoidea macrura) reaches 3.75 m in length and weighs up to 40 kg! The body of moray eels is disproportionately long, slightly flattened from the sides, but not entirely flat. The back of the body looks thinner, and the middle and front of the body are slightly thicker, from this moray eel looks like a giant leech. The pectoral fins in these fish are absent altogether, but the dorsal fin stretches along the entire length of the body. However, few 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 its 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 moray eel's muzzle is elongated with an evil expression in the eyes, the mouth is almost always open, and large sharp teeth are visible in it. This impartial portrait was the reason to reproach the moray eel with snake cunning and aggression. In fact, the expression in the eyes of the moray eel is not so much evil as frozen, because these fish are ambush fish, spending a lot of time waiting for prey. The opinion that moray eels cannot close their 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 of the moray eels is painted, so the open mouth is not visible against the background of the motley reef. Moray eels have 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 moray eels to crush the crab shells.
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 moray eels' nostrils are extended 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, monochromatic), but the colors are usually inconspicuous - brown, black, whitish-gray. However, there are exceptions. So, the tape rhinomurena at a young age (up to 65 cm long) is black, when it matures 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 over 70 cm) ...
Young banded rhinomurena (Rhinomuraena quaesita).
Moray eels are sea inhabitants. They are found only in salty warm waters. Moray eels have reached the greatest 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 in rocky shallow waters, the maximum habitat depth is up to 40 m, some species can crawl on land at low tide. In this, moray eels are very similar to their eels relatives. Moray eels keep most of their life in shelters: crevices of underwater rocks, internal cavities of large sponges, between thickets of corals. These fish are active mainly at dusk, therefore they see poorly, but they compensate for this deficiency with an excellent sense of smell. With sealed noses, moray eels are unable to detect prey.
Male tapered rhinomurena. In this species, instead of the usual nasal tubes for moray eels, there are leaf-like outgrowths on the muzzle.
Moray eels live alone and stick to permanent sites. In rare cases, when there are several convenient slots nearby, moray eels can live side by side with each other, but this is an accidental neighborhood, not friendship. Moray eels' temper is an incredible mixture of rage and meekness. According to the testimony of 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 swam to the call. This allows us to speak about a certain similarity of intelligence in these fish. However, it opens only to subtle and tactful observers.
The yellow female of the banded 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 eels bites are not only very painful, but also extremely poorly healed (up to several months), and deaths are known. For this reason, moray eels were previously attributed to poisonousness (it was believed that the poison was in the teeth, like in snakes), but studies did not reveal any poisonous glands in these fish. It is likely that the toxicity of their saliva can be associated with pathogenic bacteria that multiply in the mouth among food debris and cause wound infection. A moray eel caught on a hook defends itself to the last. At first, she tries to hide in her shelter and pulls back with tremendous force, while stretched out onto the land she fiercely clicks her teeth, fights, wriggles, tries to crawl away. This behavior was the reason for a highly exaggerated opinion about the aggressiveness of these fish.
All types of moray eels are predators. They feed on fish, crabs, sea urchins, octopuses, cuttlefish. Moray eels lie in wait for their prey, attracting it with fluttering nasal tubes. These tubes resemble polychaete marine worms; many fish peck at this bait. As soon as the victim approaches a sufficient distance, the moray eel throws the front part 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 whole, therefore, these fish have developed a special tactic for cutting the prey. For this moray eels use ... a tail. Having wrapped its tail around some moray eel stone, it 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 victim's body. 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 are dioecious, while others change sex sequentially - from male to female (for example, banded rhinomurena). Moray eel larvae are called leptocephals, just like eel larvae. Moray eels have a rounded head and a rounded tail 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; in addition, leptocevals swim freely and are carried by currents over fairly long distances. Thus, the spread of sedentary moray eels occurs. The drift period lasts 6-10 months, during this time leptocephalus grows and begins to lead a sedentary lifestyle. Moray eels reach sexual maturity by 4-6 years. The lifespan 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 practically do not have an enemy. First, they are protected by natural shelters in which these fish spend most of their lives. Secondly, not everyone wants to fight with a big and strong fish, armed with sharp teeth. 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 the pursuer by crawling to a safe distance on land.
Moray eels have a complex relationship with a person. On the one hand, people have always been afraid of these predators and avoided close contact with them in their natural environment. On the other hand, moray eels have been famous for their excellent taste since ancient times. Famous gourmets, the ancient Romans valued the meat of the Mediterranean moray eel on a par with the meat of its freshwater and small relative, the eel. Moray eel was 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 there are cases of poisoning with moray eels 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, occasional fishing is practiced.
The moray eel fish belongs to the class of ray-finned fish. All moray eels are combined into a genus, which consists of 12 species. They live in the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans, are the original inhabitants of the Mediterranean and Red Seas. These predatory fish live in coastal waters and are most often found near underwater rocks and on coral reefs. They like to relax in underwater caves and other natural shelters.
What are these sea fish remarkable for? In appearance, they resemble eels. The body is long, the skin is smooth without scales and has a variety of color shades. It is mainly brown with large yellow spots, in which there are small dark spots. In most species, a long fin extends from the head along the back. All species lack pectoral and pelvic fins.
The mouth is wide and the jaws are extremely strong. They are armed with sharp teeth, with the help of which not only prey is captured, but also serious and sometimes very dangerous wounds are inflicted. By their nature, moray eels are aggressive, and therefore pose a danger to people. Fishermen are wary of them.
The bite of this marine predator is very painful. Having bitten, the fish can firmly grasp the bite site, and it is very difficult to unhook it. The consequences of such a bite are very unpleasant, since the mucus of the moray eel fish contains substances that are toxic to humans. The wound heals for a very long time, hurts, festers and, accordingly, causes discomfort. Even cases have been recorded when the bite of this fish was fatal.
The situation is further aggravated by the fact that the representatives of the genus have an additional pharyngeal jaw in the pharynx. It is mobile and can be extended forward to help the main jaw to hold the prey. Therefore, it is understandable why it is extremely difficult to unhook a predator clinging to the skin. The bitten person unclenches the main jaws, but the fish still does not detach, since the pharyngeal jaw prevents this.
In length, representatives of the species grow up to one and a half meters, and the weight of individual individuals can be about 40 kg. But for the most part, these fish do not exceed 1 meter in length and weigh 15 kg. However, such modest figures do not diminish their danger to people. Even a small moray eel fish can cause serious and deep wounds that will take a long time to heal.
In the days of ancient Rome, these fish were considered a delicacy. They were bred in special ponds and large aquariums. Served to the table on days of great holidays. Moreover, they were mainly eaten by rich people, since the poor could not afford to breed moray eels. The sea predators themselves eat small fish. She is the main diet of their diet. The number of this genus according to the classification of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) is of the least concern.
I don't think anyone was fascinated by the appearance of the moray eel - despite the beautiful color of its body, the sight of this fish is repulsive. The predatory gaze of small prickly eyes, an unpleasant mouth with needle-like teeth, a snake-like body and an inhospitable character of moray eels do not at all dispose to friendly communication.
Let's try to get to know this fish, which is interesting and unique in its own way. 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. Frequent visitor to coral reefs and underwater rocks.
Quite often found in the Red Sea, they also live in the Mediterranean. The Red Sea is inhabited by snowflake moray eels, zebra moray eels, geometric moray eels, stellar moray eels, white-spotted moray eels, as well as elegant moray eels. The largest of them is the stellar moray eel, its average length reaches 180 cm.
The Mediterranean moray eel inhabiting the Mediterranean Sea reaches 1.5 meters in length. It was her image that became 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.
Long, serpentine body, completely naked and devoid of scales, covered with mucus, which is poisonous in some species. Slime helps moray eels jump out of cover with an arrow when hunting, significantly reducing water resistance.
In addition, a body covered with a thick layer of mucus is easier to squeeze into narrow burrows and crevices, which moray eels use as shelter and dwelling.
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 kind of marble pattern on the body. There are also monochromatic 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 when it opens its mouth wide. And the mouth of moray eels is almost always open. By pumping water through the open mouth into the gill openings, moray eels increase the oxygen supply to the body.
The head bears small, even more vicious looking moray eels, round eyes. Behind the eyes are small branchial openings, which usually have a dark spot.
The anterior and posterior nasal openings in moray eels are located on the upper side of the snout - the first pair is represented by simple openings, the second in some species has the shape of tubules, and in others - leaves. If moray eels “plug” the nasal openings, it will not be able to find its prey.
An interesting feature of moray eels is the absence of a language. Their powerful jaws are seated with 23-28 sharp fang-like or awl-like teeth, curved backwards, which helps moray eels to keep their prey.
Almost all moray eels have their teeth arranged in one row, the exception is the Atlantic green moray eel, in which an additional row of teeth is located on the palatine bone.
Moray eels have long and extremely sharp teeth. In some species of moray eels, whose diet is dominated by shell animals - crustaceans, crabs, teeth have a flattened shape. With these teeth it is easier to split and grind the strong protection of the prey. There is no poison on the teeth of moray eels. The jaws of all moray eels are very powerful and large.
The pectoral fins in moray eels are absent, and the rest - the dorsal, anal and caudal fins have grown together into one, framing the back of the body, train.
Moray eels can reach significant sizes. According to various sources, their length can be 2.5 and 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 "slimmer" than females. Here's a stronger sex !, 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 often encountered by divers, is about one meter.
As a rule, males are slightly smaller than females.
Moray eels reproduce by caviar. In the winter months, they gather in shallow water, where the fertilization of eggs laid by females, by the sex products of males, takes place. Eggs and the larvae of moray eels hatched from them move in the water by sea currents and are carried over a large area of the water area of the seas.
Moray eels are predators, their diet consists of various bottom animals - crabs, crustaceans, cephalopods, especially octopuses, medium-sized sea urchins and even sea urchins.
They get food mainly at night. Lurking in ambush, moray eels watch over the gaping prey, jumping out of it with an arrow if a potential victim appears within reach, and grabs 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 a moray eel deals with 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 an ambush. The favorite delicacy of most moray eels is octopus. In pursuit of this sedentary animal, moray eels drive it into a "corner" - some kind of shelter or crevice, and, pushing its head to its soft body, tears off piece by piece from it, starting with the tentacles, until it breaks into small pieces and eats without a remainder.
Small prey moray eels can be swallowed whole, like snakes. When biting off a piece of body from a large prey, moray eels are often helped by their own tail, with which it, as a lever, increases the power of its jaws.
A peculiar way of hunting is used by nosed moray eels. These relatively small representatives of moray eels are named so for the outgrowths above their upper jaw. These nasal outgrowths, oscillating in the flow of water, resemble sessile sea worms - polychaetes. The type of "prey" attracts small fish, which very quickly turn out to be the prey of a lurking predator themselves.
In search of food, moray eels, like most nocturnal predators, rely on their sense of smell. Their vision is poorly developed, and even at night it is a poor helper in the search for food. The moray eel victim can be felt at a considerable distance.
The notoriety of fish dangerous to humans has been entrenched in moray eels since ancient times.
In ancient Rome, noble citizens often kept moray eels in pools, growing them for consumption - the meat of these fish was extremely prized because of its specific taste. Quickly appreciating the ability of moray eels to be aggressive, the noble Romans used them as a tool to punish guilty slaves, and sometimes they threw people into a cage with moray eels solely for entertainment.
Indeed - oh, times! .. Oh, morals! ..
Muren, before arranging such tortures or spectacles, was kept from hand to mouth. When a man appeared in the pool, they pounced on him and, hanging on the victim, like bulldogs, shook their jaws, pulling 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 rather 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 is some of them.
In 1948, biologist I. Brock, who later became director of the Hawaiian Institute for Marine Biology at the University of Hawaii, scuba dived near Johnston Island in the Pacific Ocean at a shallow depth. Before diving Brock, a grenade was thrown into the water - this was part of the research program that the biologist was doing. Noticing a large moray eel in the water and thinking that it was killed by a grenade, Brock faked it with a spear. However, the moray eel, whose length was 2.4 meters, turned out to be far from dead: she rushed directly at the offender and grabbed his elbow. Moray eel, attacking a person, inflicts a wound that looks like a bite mark of a barracuda. But unlike the barracuda, the moray eel does not immediately float away, but hangs on its victim, like a bulldog. Brock managed to rise to the surface and reach a boat waiting nearby. However, surgeons had to deal with this wound for a long time, as it turned out to be very serious. The victim nearly lost an arm.
The famous pop singer Dieter Bohlen (duet Modern Talking) also suffered from moray eels.
During a dive in the Seychelles region, moray eels grabbed his leg, tearing the singer's skin and muscles. After this incident, D. Bolen underwent surgery and spent a whole month in a wheelchair.
Once, specialists even had to relocate a couple of moray eels from a popular tourist reef (Old cod hole, Great Barrier Reef, 1996). While feeding, the fish tore the hand of a New Zealand diver so badly that they could not save him.
Unfortunately, the moray eels died during the transportation.
I think that the above examples will help novice divers to assess the danger of meeting moray eels and take measures to prevent such cases.
These measures are simple - do not provoke a moray eel to aggressive actions. Very rarely (usually exhausted by hunger) moray eels attack people for no reason.
Seeing a moray eel, you should not make this fish nervous - approach its dwelling, try to stroke it, and even more so - stick your hands in its shelter. Lovers of spearfishing should not shoot holes and crevices just to check if there is moray eel there. If she really lives there, then she will certainly attack you. If not provoked, she will not touch you.
There is no targeted fishing for moray eels. They are caught in single copies 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 nervous lesions. 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 confined space may be different. Often moray eels are extremely aggressive towards neighbors in the aquarium, sometimes they are completely indifferent to roommates. Moray eels can live in captivity 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 capable of swallowing a ship whole. 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 has never stopped 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. Such is the strange food chain. In the Caribbean, moray ceviche is still popular - a dish that is prepared in a very exotic and rather brutal way.
Moray eels are undoubtedly very graceful animals, but few people know that these fish are able to effectively hunt with other fish species like sea bass, but they also pose a certain danger to humans, especially to unwary divers.
Moray eels are eels from the moray eels (lat.Muraenidae). There are approximately 200 species and they are all almost exclusively marine animals, but a few species are regularly found in brackish water and some, like the freshwater moray eel (Latin Gymnothorax polyuranodon), can sometimes be found in fresh water. With a maximum length of 11.5 cm (4.5 inches), the smallest moray eel is most likely the Snyder moray eel (Latin Anarchias leucurus), while the longest species are the slender giant moray (Latin Strophidon sathete). grow up to 4 meters (13 feet) in length. The largest in terms of weight is the giant moray eel (Latin Gymnothorax javanicus), which is nearly 3 meters (9.8 ft) long and can weigh over 36 kg (79 lb).
Moray eels are often mistaken for vicious and grumpy animals. They are forced to constantly open and close their mouths so that water circulates through the 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 crevices and crevices, they prefer to run away than attack. Moray eels are shy and secretive, and attack people only for self-defense or misidentification. Most of the attacks are due to the approach to the moray eel lair, but attacks also occur during the manual feeding of moray eels by divers, a practice often used by diving companies to attract tourists.
Moray eels have poor eyesight and mostly rely on their keen sense of smell, which is why it is difficult for them to find the line between fingers and food held by the hand. Many divers have lost their fingers while trying to feed moray eels. For this reason, hand-feeding 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 that is why the eel will not let go of the prey, even if it is threatened with death and therefore has to manually open its jaws. While most are not considered venomous, circumstantial evidence suggests that some species may be.
Video. Interesting about moray eels
Eels that eat certain types of toxic algae, or more commonly fish that have eaten some of these algae, can lead to cigatere (food poisoning). During the daytime, moray eels rest in crevices and hunt at night, although they can chase small fish and crustaceans that swim nearby in the daytime.
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, as well as those that briefly move outside these regions. They live at depths of up to several hundred meters, where they spend most of their time hiding inside crevices and burrows. While several species are regularly found in brackish water, very few species can be found in fresh water, such as freshwater moray eels (Latin Gymnothorax polyuranodon) and pink-lipped moray eels (Latin Echidna rhodochilus).
Despite its serpentine appearance, moray eels are fish, not reptiles or amphibians. Adult moray eels lack pectoral and pelvic fins, but they have long fins that extend from the back of the head to the tail and along the belly. While it may appear to be one fin, there are actually three of them: an elongated dorsal fin, a caudal fin, and an anal fin. Moray eels move like swimming snakes, thanks to their wave-like movements, they are able to cut the water very quickly.
Photo. Moray eels second jaws
Moray eels are fish-eating, 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 mouth jaws, and the second jaws are in the throat called pharyngeal jaws. Unlike other fish with jaws, the second jaws of the moray eel are very mobile. After the moray eels bite the food, the second jaw moves forward to grab the food inside the mouth and drag it down the throat to completely swallow it.
Thus, the caught fish has practically no chance of salvation. Interestingly, while the existence of the second jaws has been known for quite some time, the mechanism for swallowing food by moray eels was only fully disclosed only in 2007.
Divers who closely watched the moray eel may not have noticed that it has smooth skin. Moray eels skin cells secrete a protective mucous membrane that protects them from infection and contact. Never touch the moray eel as this can damage its delicate defenses.
Covering moray eels also serves other purposes. When buried in sand, they restore their protection by adhering grains of sand. In some species, the coating also affects their color. Green moray eels without their mucus look brown, but the yellow color of their mucous membrane when combined with skin color results in a lustrous shade of green.
Moray eels can hunt alone or in groups. When moray eels hunt in groups, they do not unite with other moray eels, but do it with fish of other species. This type of hunting is known as "nuclear hunting" and is seen in several other fish species, such as the flutefish and sea bass (Plectropomus pessuliferus). In the book Behavior of Reef Fish by Paul Humann and Ned DeLoach, the nuclear hunting behavior of moray eels is detailed:
Photo. Joint hunting of moray eels and sea bass
Video. Grouper and moray eel hunt together
“The moray eel almost always waits for the sea bass to position itself next to its body before making a dash. In any case, the fish contacts the moray eel by shaking its head in front of its head. It looks like the two animals are working together on their next coral hunt, sea bass may close the escape route while moray eels invade the dark curtain. " One way or another, one of the animals gets food.
Photo. Shrimp clean the mouth of moray eels
Known attacks of moray eels on humans
Murena bit off the diver's thumb
This happened in 2005 on the Similan Islands in Thailand. Matt Bucher, Dive Instructor, worked aboard the Liveaboard MV Queen Scuba Similans as an underwater videographer. He has already made five or six dives among moray eels. A year or two ago, he first saw how these fish are fed. Matt fed the moray eels regularly when he dived. He wanted to get quality pictures of moray eels during his dive. Customers loved it when they watched the video in the evenings, especially when the moray eels were eating directly from Matt's hands. Matt tended to take the sausages, mainly because they were left over from breakfast and didn't disintegrate under water. Unfortunately for Matt the sausages looked like fingers.
The next day Matt sailed with his friend Becks, who worked on the boat as a dive instructor. It was like any other day, but the level of anxiety was high as they knew they were about to see the giant moray eel again. The first part of the dive was uninteresting, and Matt and Becks hurried to the coral. The visibility was about twenty meters, Matt and Becks saw a moray eel floating. It is normal for moray eels to swim out of crevices and explore any divers who come close to its coral den. Matt fed the moray eel several times, she returned to the coral and hid in it, only a protruding head remained. In order to persuade her to swim out again, Matt decided to feed her from his food bag. He gave the camera to Bex and signaled to her to film him feeding the moray eels. 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, since the movement of the water made it difficult for him to find a hole to get the sausage out of there. Murena noticed that a bag of food appeared and swam very close to Matt, concentrating on finding the open end of the bag. Murena smelled food and was impatient.
Photo. Lurking moray
Photo. Murena is looking closely
Initially, Matt just felt some pressure on his left thumb and tried to pull his hand out. It was then that the moray eel stopped all the efforts of the man and better grabbed the thumb. All this happened very quickly. Matt knew he had to pull his thumb out of her mouth, but he wasn't ready for what happened next. He watched the moray eel attached to his arm as the blood began to create a blood cloud around him. He slipped two fingers of his right hand into her mouth and tried to open her jaw to reach for his thumb. She bit again and more blood came out into the ocean. Murena was not going to let go.
Murena sailed away and everything seemed calm ... Matt looked down at his hand to see the torn flesh and thumb bone. The thumb disappeared. Matt glanced back at the moray eel to see her swallow his thumb and return to her coral. Becks was wide-eyed and motionless. She couldn't believe what had just happened. She was just filming one of her best friends, in which a giant moray eel bit off his thumb in front of her eyes.
Matt didn't panic and made a slow and controlled climb to the surface. At this moment, Claude from the Queen Scuba yacht, sailed past him with a group of divers. Matt showed his hand to Claude and indicated that he had a problem. Claude smiled and continued diving, thinking that Matt was joking. As Matt rose to the surface, the water began to turn red. There was a lot of blood. But on the surface, blood splattered 50 cm into the air. It was like a fountain, as the tiny arteries were completely ruptured and open. Matt shouted loudly for the boat to be picked up. 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 in a speedboat from 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 amassed 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. Murena bit off the diver's finger
He was asked to amputate one of his toes and transplant it onto his arm to replace the missing toe. All the nerves, tendons, and blood vessels needed to be connected, and, in essence, 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 costs, which cost about six hundred thousand baht ($ 16.5 thousand).
A month after the operation, the transplant took root and Matt returned to diving. It is worth noting that Matt no longer hates 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 that it was his stupid mistake and that he shouldn't have fed her. It was a painful way to learn a lesson ...
The conger eel attack on the Irish diver
year 2013. Jimmy Griffin, 48, a scuba diver from Galway, spoke of the Killary attack: “All of a sudden, I got a really hard punch in the face. I felt like a rag doll. He grabbed my face and started shaking violently. It bit, pulled, and swirled around my face. I got a terrifying feeling of numbness on the right side of my face. My regulator fell out and my vision really began to blur from the blood in the water. The blood looked like octopus ink, very dark. "
Photo. Sea eel
Photo. Conger eel bite wound
Photo. Stitches on a man's face after being bitten by a conger eel
Galway bakery owner Jimmy had done over 200 dives and knew he had to stay calm in the situation. “I couldn't panic at a depth of 25 meters under water. My regulator (breathing apparatus) was knocked out of my mouth, so panic could lead to my drowning. When he finally let go, I saw that it was a conger eel larger than myself, over six feet in length, ”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 had on the inside and outside of my mouth, but they say the scar will eventually go unnoticed,” he said. He had 20 stitches on his face.
Moray eel attacked a surfer in Hawaii
On October 17, 2015, a 33-year-old local was surfing on Waikiki Beach when he felt pain in his left leg. He reached the shore, where passersby used a towel to stop the bleeding, after the medical workers arrived. Although a spokesman for the Hawaii Department of Lands and Natural Resources said that he had never heard of moray eel attacks in the state, officials found no sign of a shark attack and believed the human injuries were similar to those of a moray eel, not a shark.
Although moray eels frequent coral reefs in Hawaii, officials have never come to a definite conclusion. At the same time, experts do not exclude other options, noting that recently barracudas were also seen near Waikiki. Hours before the attack, another person was injured, although officials suspect a tiger shark may have been the culprit in the attack. Witnesses reported that the 44-year-old man was swimming with a friend 50-100 meters offshore when he was bitten. “Both legs were just above the ankle,” said one passer-by. The man was taken to hospital in critical condition.
2010 documentary “Moray eels. Alien empire "
Murena 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 filmed the moment when a ravaged fish was chasing him in Sodwana Bay.
He was filming two eels when one of them suddenly turned and chased him for almost 15 meters. He believes that he was attacked by a moray eel due to the fact that by his appearance he interrupted the ritual of courtship and mating, which undoubtedly angered one of the moray eels.
“Fortunately, no one was hurt in this situation. I swam quickly, the eel chased me for about 10-15 meters, but in the end everything was fine. I, of course, did not expect such a situation and did not want to provoke it. I take great care not to interfere with marine life when I shoot and always try to keep a sufficient distance so that I and the subject feel comfortable, ”commented Lukasik.
Video. Murena attacked the diver
However, he was suspected of trying to promote another older record from 2015, these records are completely identical. However, the video shows the very moment of the attack on the operator.
The underwater world is a unique environment. How many unusual creatures you can find here! One of the most diverse classes of aquatic animals can be called fish, because among them there are creatures that even do not look like fish at first glance. Moray eel fish is one such representative. These large animals belonging to the order Eeliformes, the moray eel family, resemble snakes more than fish.
What does a serpentine marine moray fish look like?
All representatives of this species are large in size. The body length of moray eels ranges from 60 to 370 centimeters. And one individual weighs from 8 to 40 kilograms! That's how the underwater giants are!
The body shape of these fish is slightly flattened: the front part of the body is thicker than the back. The pectoral fins that are familiar to us, characteristic of most representatives of the fish class, are completely absent in moray eels. The snake fish's muzzle is elongated, and the eyes have a very spiteful expression!
The color of animals is usually variegated. Very often there is a pattern on the body in a small speck, sometimes moray eels have a striped ornament on the body. These serpentine fish have no scales.
Distribution of sea moray eels
The habitat of moray eels is invariably considered to be the sea, the water should not only be salty, but also always warm. These serpentine fish can be found in the waters of the Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, the Red and Mediterranean Seas, and in parts of the Pacific Ocean.
Moray eel fish lifestyle
Moray eels choose a shallow depth for living - up to 40 meters, preferring to spend most of their time in shallow water. They are modest and inconspicuous in the water. Having found some shelter for themselves, be it a crevice of a rock or thickets of corals, moray eels sit in it for most of their life. The main activity begins at dusk.
Moray eels are solitary animals, the gregarious lifestyle is not for them. Even if by chance a “neighbor” of the same species settles nearby, not every moray eel is ready to tolerate such uninvited “friends”.
The character of the fish is also difficult, like herself. Some individuals are even very friendly. But there are also those who do not like any interference in their lives. If the moray eel doesn't like something, it immediately becomes aggressive and can bite painfully. The bites of these serpentine fish have sometimes been fatal to humans! Therefore, while diving, you should be careful with these hot-tempered fish.
What do moray eels eat?
The main food sources for snake moray eels are sea urchins, fish, etc. These predators, first, hiding in ambush, attract the victim, and then with a sharp throw attack it and capture it in the mouth. Since the moray eel cannot swallow the whole captured animal, it begins to butcher its prey in a special way, eating it piece by piece.
Reproduction of serpentine fish
Scientists have very poorly studied the process of breeding offspring in these fish. Maybe this is due to a too secretive lifestyle, especially during spawning. Some of the moray eels are dioecious, but there are also those that change sex from male to female during their life.
The moray eel larva that was born is called leptocephalus. Its size at birth is very small - 7-10 millimeters. The larva is very easily carried by the current and, thus, “cubs” from the same clutch fall into different habitats. Having reached the age of 4 - 6 years, a young individual of the moray eel becomes fully adult and capable of further reproduction.
The lifespan of the moray eel snake fish is about 10 years.
Do moray eels have natural enemies?
The secluded lifestyle that these representatives of ray-finned fish lead saves them from an abundance of enemies. But there are times when a moray eel still catches the eye of a larger predator fish and becomes its "dinner".
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