…the remarkable moray

A couple of weeks ago, we talked about the interesting and varied family of eels that live near Jamaica’s coasts.  The moray eels are outstanding examples of fine-tuned natural engineering.

Morays’ strong flexible bodies are perfectly suited to life in caves and tunnels inside rock piles or coral heads.  They can stretch or flatten in almost any direction, and with no scales, side fins or gill covers to catch on things, they can go forward or back with almost equal ease.

Each kind of moray blends in with its chosen surroundings.  The ones that live in deeper water are shades of a solid colour.  Dots and blotches decorate the ones a bit nearer to shore, where the bottom is more varied.  The chain morays, brightest of all, have a striking gold mesh pattern on their maroon bodies that looks like sun shining through ripples in the very shallow water where they live.  The camouflage colours are even found inside their mouths.

Their teeth suit each moray’s chosen diet.  The chain morays, who eat a lot of snails, have broad rounded jaws and flattened teeth to crunch the shells.  Others like the spotted and viper morays have narrow jaws with long teeth at the front for picking shrimp and small fish out of holes.  The hunters like the green moray have strong jaws and long sharp teeth to give a good grip on wiggling fish.

Morays have a reputation for being fierce and dangerous.  In fact, most of them are quite shy and easy-going.  A marine biologist who has watched Montego Bay’s morays for ten years observes “they’re a bit like dogs, friendly and very bright.  Just don’t pet them.”

Green morays have been seen hunting cooperatively with groupers, jacks and other large fish..  The fish stay near the top of a promising coral head and the moray near the bottom, putting everything in the middle between teeth and a hard place.  If the prey flees in open water, the fish run it down.  If it goes to ground, the moray goes in after it.  Either way, everybody works and everybody eats.

Another long-time moray watcher noticed that big green morays have “companion fish” in and near their dens.  Some are cleaners, little fish that pick parasites off the moray and remove bits of old food from its teeth.  Some of the others seem to be sentries, telling the moray if either danger or food is near.

In places with well-developed diving tourism, some divemasters have “pet” morays that recognize them and come out to be fed and played with.  This really isn’t a good idea.  Morays that expect to be fed when they see divers can get aggressive when the treats don’t come fast enough, and their poor eyesight can lead to accidents.  A veteran diver observes “You can tell which guys feed morays.  They’re the ones with the missing fingers.”

Too often, the morays’ love of caves and free lunch leads them into fish traps.  They’re not safe to eat, because their bodies build up the toxin that causes Ciguatera poisoning.  Fishermen chop trapped morays for bait, and this is a waste.  Our marine biologist gets the last word: “We need to keep all our morays, especially the big greens.  They’re the last top-line predator we have left.  They already eat scorpionfish, poisoned spines and all.  Maybe we can train them to hunt lionfish.”