Moray Eel Attack

[fishoutawater]

Those are nice pics Dave.
The first time I met a Moray was on a reef down in the Keys. At first all I saw was his head. I kind of moved my fingers in a way mimicking a squid. I about crapped in my Henderson when he came out of his hole and wrapped himself around me. He was a monster.
We stayed at a place called Amy Slates Dive Amoray. The divemaster that I dove with told me later that that Moray was a regular fixture on that particular reef. and was actually quite friendly.
That was back in '92, so I don't know if he's still there or not.
Here's a pic of him from their site:

 

[ba_hiker]

I had a similar reaction, many years ago in mexico (cozemel??) Was diving with a local DM and as we passed by a big rock a large green moray can out of the rock at me. I nearly s*** in my suit, but the DM stopped and held his arms out to the side.

The moray then wrapped its self around him like some feather boa. After a bit I calmed down and I let the eel wrap its self around me, petted it and scratched its head and neck.

It came to us and we stayed until it was done and left. It clearly wanted the interaction. No food or other enticements were used at the time. Latter I was told that the eel was well known to the locals, and often would approach small groups of divers, but was rairly seen if more than two or three were around.

 

[Mambo Dave]

Now THAT's an awesome picture, fishouta.

Good stories, too.

Anyone know, offhand, how old a green Moray might be at that size (~ 8 feet)?

 

[NAIBdiver1]

My girlfriend sometimes gets upset with me while I'm filming. I tend to get a bit close to my subjects and don't think much of it - maybe after reading some off these posts, I'll start listening to her a little closer.

http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/58493/cat/500/ppuser/37086

NAIBDiver1

 

[Squashie]

Largest eel I ever saw was in Cozumel many years ago. The dive masters used to keep his location somewhat secret since apparently someone had tried to shoot him with a spear...the scars were plainly visable, but back to the story...This thing was huge...I mean HUGE!!! When he opened and closed his mouth breathing, it was not hard to estimate that a volleyball or something larger could easily fit. One of the dive masters with us on the dive, went to the top of the coral outcropping he was hiding in and attempted to wrap his arms around the body of the eel, while reaching through an opening near the top and couldn't make his hands meet. :11: I have no idea how long the eel was totally, all we could see was approximately 6 feet of him extending out of the hole. It looked like there was at least that much more still in the cave.

The eel showed no aggression and seemed to just want to watch us, as much as we wanted to watch him. Unfortunately, my camera flooded on the next dive and the film was destroyed, so I am left with only the memory...but, what a special memory. Wonder if he is still around, or if he got tired of all of the attention and moved on?

 

[aboalreem]

I had a 4 footer green moray bitting my left arm around the albow....Stuck MY fingers in its eyes, then took off immidiatley....7 steches on my arm...
No feeding no nothing was going on.

 

[DI_Guy]

I had a 4 footer green moray bitting my left arm around the albow....Stuck MY fingers in its eyes, then took off immidiatley....7 steches on my arm...
No feeding no nothing was going on.

I wonder if a blast of bubbles from an OCTO would scare them off ? Anyone ever try that ? I was diving in Hawaii last week and saw some eels but I did not get that close to them.

 

[onfloat]

I got bit by one a couple of weeks ago. He had my entire thumb in his mouth.







I didn't see the sign that said "Don't feed the Eels"

 

[Jim Ernst]

Yeah, we don't feed them much any more, at least in areas there are a lot of divers. I think it is pretty rare to have them bite a diver but I've seen them swim up between divers legs up to their face and scare the S*** out of them. This is a link to a video of me feeding a big girl who knows us. I like to give her a little treat once in a while. She is not in an area that normally sees divers, the young fellow with me is a Marine Biology student who wanted to see some interaction with a big eel. Just before this video was taken, I was petting her and she has never shown signs of aggression towards me. Watch when she grabs the fish, she will just grab the tip of the head. She could grab the whole thing right up to my hand with her big mouth but she is always quite careful.
Obviously this is not something that should be tried at home...I've been doing this for a while. The video is shot with a little Canon S70 camera so the quality is not the best and it is compressed as well but you'll get the idea. It is the middle video.

http://www.dropshots.com/DiverDennis

wow, that is some cool footage dennis, she looks huge, that was real neat to see thanks!!

 

[JRScuba]

I'd rather not say. :05:

Know what you mean. The one I observed north of Commercial Pier and south of Lighthouse Point was about that size or bigger.
Only it was not in a wreck.

Like you, I'd rather not say.:05:

PS: Everybodies pictures were awesome. Don't know how I would react
if one wrapped itself around me. But there definitely would be a wetsuit change.