moray eels

[StacyT]

Eel's grow fairly fast in captivity. I have a snowflake eel thats doubled in size in a little less than a year. A freind of mine has a zebra that's grown almost as fast.

 

[sachar]

I've seen a few large zebra eels swimming in the open during the day while diving at sodwana bay. That was an amazing sight.

 

[debcov]

We are lucky to have lots of eels here in Saipan. We used to have one at Obyan beach that was over 5 feet long with its diameter about the size of my thigh. Unfortunately someone killed him, prob for chinese medicine value, and left him on the beach where most of us divers found him. I have pix of him from a night dive....he was neat to see.

Just got back from Bali and was happy to see ribbon eels and take several pixs. they are quite colorful and a nice change from the variety of eels we have at home.

 

[HomerJay]

When diving in the Keys in late May, my wife and I saw a spotted moray free swimming in and out of some holes in the reef. It was really neat to see and we just hovered about 4 feet above it and watched for a minute. Out of nowhere a HUGE green moray came screaming out of one of the holes and tagged the spotted one about a foot behind its head. The most amazingly violent struggle I have ever witnessed above or below the surface ensued, and the green moray absolutely decimated the spotted eel. As quickly as it emerged, it dragged the poor spotted eel back into the hole and it was gone.

I never thought I was an adrenaline junkie before, but the rush was intense. This happened so fast it scared the living crap out of my wife and me. Luckily neither one of us panicked. We realized we were witnessing Discovery Channel stuff here and got out composure back.

Without a doubt this was my most memorable dive. Considering I'm a newbie with only 23 logged dives I really hope I didn't peak early. The DM on the boat said she had never heard of anything like that happening before.

Needless to say, I won't every try to shake hands with 'em. I might not get it back.

-HomerJay
:wacko:

 

[NJscuadivr77]

Yo,
Just got back from Mayan Rivara (40 minutes from Cozummel by Ferry) and on a night dive on Friday we saw a 71/2 foot gren moray eel. It was amazing. No lie

 

[diverjed]

Witnessed a Giant Eel all coiled up in an underwater cave in Jamaica, roughly ten feet.

Green eyes and jaws of death!

 

[Kettle]

I used to keep a Zebra Moray, great animals and very easy to keep. I used to hand feed it with bits of prawn. They are pretty smart and it quickly learnt when and where it would be fed and would be waiting for the food. Unfortunately it got too big and I had to sell it. I have also seen plenty of Morays in the wild, saw one that musn't have been more than 10cm long while reefwalking in Guam. Also when I was on Yap a while ago, we saw about 6 Morays bolting for cover while we were walking out across sea grass beds to do some snorkelling. We also saw at least one, usually two Morays on every dive. These guys didn't need to be lured from their holes, they would come out as we passed. Tried to get some pics, but just had a crappy camera. Going back there on Wednesday with a good camera, going to be doing a lot of diving, so I will try to get some pics.

 

[Fishbait99]

I've seen plenty of spotted morays on dives in Cozumel, usually poking out of holes in the reef. The odd time, they do come out in the open. Only on a couple of occasions have I seen bigger green morays, on only one of them was out swimming. It quickly ducked under cover when it saw me, and poked his head out to keep an eye on us. Which, conveniently enough, offered a nice opportunity for a portrait. My guess at the length was in the six foot range, very thick.

As for aggression in morays, from what I've seen of them, as long as you use some semblance of sense, they pose no threat. You can get pretty close, just don't harrass the animal.

 

[Stacy]

back in '94 (summer) i did my first certified dive down in cozumel, around the palancar caves. i was a jr diver, a little intimidated, but the dive was great. instructor had a can of cheese whiz or EZ cheese and was feeding a green moray. Didn't know much about them at the time, but i Knew there was no way I was going to feed that thing! I could see my dad laughing almost behind his regulator. went around behind the wall the moray was peeking out of and saw his other half. DM estimated it to be about 7-8 feet in length. i figure at that size, he can do without the extra cheese whiz.

 

[Shanghai Manta]

In the wrecks off the UK there is a very commonly caught eel called the Conger Eel that grows to a weight of up to 250 lbs. The record stands at around 350 lbs according to the websites I've visited. No idea how long they were though.

Kevin