diving in moray eel exhibit

[mojowtm2]

Hello,

I have been offered an opportunity to dive into a green moray eel exhibit at my local aquarium to perform cleaning tasks and (to the best that I can) inspect the eels for signs of unhealth.

The catch is that these particular eels are permanently blind due to a lack of vitamins when they were first brought in.

There are five eels. The exhibit, while providing ample room for manuvering, is not huge. The smallest of the eels is 3.5 feet long.

I've read cases where perfectly healthy green morays have attacked humans, almost always in self-defense, however there are a few reports of unprovoked attacks.

My concern is one of mistaken identity. I honestly don't think I will have any problem in this situation. Not to mention the benefits of being able to study them up-close far outweigh the risks. However, there's still this nagging thought that one of the five blind morays could mistake some part of me as a nice chunk of fish. Personally, I like all my extremities.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Moe

 

[archman]

I've never heard of this before! I'm FASCINATED, and keep two morays myself in teaching tanks. Could you get more info about this "vitamin" thing and report back? How do you know if eels are blind or not? They're pretty near-sighted enough normally. I hope mine aren't blind!

As for them biting you, well first off you should be feeding with a chain mesh glove. If you're not, your aquarium is tempting fate. Second, eels typically only bite when they smell food right in front of their face. So unless you have fish stuck on your wetsuit, they shouldn't go after it. They DO frequently bite tongs, fingers, and gloves HOLDING the food, however. Feeders quickly learn how to stick the food out and away from them to pretty much avoid this.

Smaller eels tend to be more apt to bite at random than larger ones. Also, bite frequency varies by species. Some of the nicest ones are green's (Gymnothorax funebrens I think), while some of the spotted types are quicker on the "trigger." Little teeny snowflakes get REAL excited; it's a good thing they stay small.

 

[mojowtm2]

Yes, the aquarist at the zoo explained that the blindness was due to a pretty severe vitamin E deficiency before the zoo acquired them.

I did not ask how they knew for sure that the eels were blind. I assumed that they performed some experiments to reach this conclusion. However, the eyes of these particular eels have completely opaque cataracts, so it stands to reason that it's a fact. I've looked at a lot of pictures of eels in the wild and there is definitely a difference between the eyes.

I was not aware that eels are normally near-sighted until just yesterday, and that they are more ambush predators than anything else. That is a load off my mind. Sounds like if I use some solid gloves and good boots I will be just fine.

Moe

 

[WreckWriter]

A friend of mine nearly lost an arm to a moray in a feeding accident. Be careful with those things.

WW

 

[archman]

Might I ask what aquarium, and the species and sizes of the eels?

 

[hyaku]

I've never heard of this before! I'm FASCINATED, and keep two morays myself in teaching tanks.

Me too as a pet. (one metre honeycomb) Mines almost blind anyway. I almost have to hit him on the nose with fish for him too find them and feed. I was under the impression that they were bad sighted any way.

One hit me right in the mask last year on a night dive. Dont know who was shocked most, him or me.