Careful Of Moray Eels

[jamie9999]

Talking of Moray Eels and their dangers you might be interested in this. A guy had his thumb bitten off and eaten by a Giant Moray in the Similan Islands in Thailand. He was feeding at the time so it was his own fault. The video and story might be quite well known, with rumors about what actually happened, but there is a blog with all the facts. There's no need to castigate the guy here, he's learnt his lesson and now pro actively discourages interaction with marine life.

Here's the blog. The video of the accident is also on the blog.

Moray Eel Attack: Scuba diver has thumb bitten off and eaten | Scuba Diving Phuket

 

[Crush]

I was diving the "Nautilus" site I'm Oahu today and saw several morays, including one beast that seemed to have a girth similar to my upper leg. This thread, and the related song, kept running through my head.

BTW, I gave them all, large and small, a healthy separation.

I also decided not to wiggle my fingers close to the puffer fish...

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Clues? It was obvious the thing was pissed and then he approached way to close over the vunerable tail, then got in his face, then didn't back off when he saw the open jaw display.

Even one that isn't already fed up with divers isn't going to be happy with someone approaching that close over top of it and not allowing an easy means of escape! Eel really didn't have any options but defend itself until it had enough clear water to escape and not have the large monster (diver and camera) over top of him!

Approaching with some consideration and understanding of the creatures is the only way to get decent shots.

 

[Arubandi07]

A while back I was diving with a pro videographer. We came upon a huge Moray sitting in the open. I slowly moved in and took some photos with my POS. Something just didn't seem right to me. Moray in the open, sort of on it's side... My Spidey sense was tingling, so I slowly backed out while keeping the eel in my line-of-sight. As it turned out, my instincts were right.

Videographer guy didn't pick up on the clues, and moved in to shoot. Notice his approach to the eel. Not a good idea.

Here's the video from his perspective:

YouTube - Eel Attacks Dive Travel Camera in Aruba

Very likely that eel was at a cleaning station, waiting for the crew to go to work.
Got a couple of shots of a spotted moray in a nearly identical situation(see album/moray eels). Kept my distance on that occasion after watching the eel snapping at some blue tangs, that moved in too close...

 

[craracer]

I hadn't considered the notion of a cleaning station. Good point.

 

[fisheater]

The still photographer approached head on, in the eel's line of sight. However, the videographer came up the eel from above and behind. How would you react to a large creature that was all of a sudden hovering over you and blocking your means of retreat?

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Always a good idea to ensure the creatures don't feel trapped! Can't blame them if we block the flight options they only have the fight option left and once it is triggered... most creatures get locked into the response!