Moray Eels - Reef Life of the Andaman - Part 7

Down on the reef, a fish trap has caught a handful of bony fishes including a giant moray eel. This is the largest of all morays. Despite their fearsome appearance, morays are not as dangerous to humans as they look, although larger morays can attack if provoked and have been known to bite divers when being fed. The mouth contains sharp teeth for capturing and restraining prey. Once captured, a second set of jaws in the throat is launched forward to grab the prey and pull it down the moray's gullet. Anemone reef is home to several specimens of yellow-edged moray. Like many morays they feed on small reef fishes. Khao Lak's Boonsung tin miner wreck has a particular concentration of honeycomb morays. This spotted moray at the Burma Banks is a close relative. Whitemouth morays are not at all common in the Andaman. This rare specimen was seen at Burma's Western Rocky Island. Another Myanmar speciality is the barredfin moray. When feeling threatened it adopts a very snake-like posture. Facial injuries are quite common amongst morays, and this palechin moray at High Rock bears the scars of past conflicts. The cartoon-like features of the greyface moray are much more common throughout the area and these eels are often found in pairs or small groups. This is a small and very energetic species and when it attacks it moves quickly. Greyface morays don't just live with each other; they often share their home with other species. In this case a fimbriated moray. And here we find a fimbriated moray with a snowflake moray. Whereas the previous species feed mainly on fishes, the snowflake moray feeds on shelled molluscs and crustaceans, so it's teeth are much more blunt. It's not difficult to see how the zebra moray got its name. This moray also feeds on crustaceans.