Image credit – Serge Abourjeily: Moray eel at Batu Kapal, Banda Islands, Indonesia

Fun facts about moray eels include:

• They are apex predators, either waiting for prey to get close enough to their hiding spots before lurching forward and grabbing it, or hunting mostly at night, stalking sleeping fish on the reef or seabed.
• They have two sets of teeth/jaws! The first set (the ones you see) bite the prey and hold it.  These teeth point backwards, making it very hard for their prey to escape.  The second set of teeth is located in a pharyngeal jaw at the back of the throat, and can be slung forward so that the moray can drag the prey down into its stomach.  This adaptation is necessary because they cannot chew their food; they have to swallow it whole.
• They can tie themselves into knots to give them the leverage they need to rip their prey into chunks.  Because they can do this, they can eat a wide variety of species, including fish, octopuses and crabs.
• When mating, they emerge from their hiding spots into the water column and perform an ornate dance, twisting and twirling their bodies around each other.  The time taken and the dance vary from species to species and, once their eggs hatch, the young take care of themselves.
• Despite being solitary creatures, they have mutually beneficial ‘partnerships’ with other marine creatures such as groupers and cleaning shrimps.
• There are over 200 species of moray eels, varying in size, colour and markings, and live for between 10 to 40 years.

#conservation #wildlifeconservation #morayeels #fascinatingfacts #animalfacts #animalfactsforkids #marinelife #marineanimals #apexpredators #fascinatinganimalfacts