Salt Water Aquariums - Part V

There are many different species of Moray Eels.  The smallest moray is believed to be the Snyder's Moray which is about 4.5 inches long. The longest species, the Slender Giant Moray reaches up to 13 ft. The largest in terms of total mass is the Giant Moray which reaches 9.8 ft and can weigh 80 pounds.

Moray Eels are frequently thought of as vicious and dangerous animals. In truth, morays hide from humans in crevices and would rather flee than fight. Morays are shy and secretive, and attack humans only in self defense or  mistaken identity. Most attacks stem from disruption of a moray's burrow (to which they do react strongly), but an increasing number also occur during hand-feeding of morays by divers, an activity often used by dive companies to attract tourists. Morays have poor vision and rely mostly on their acute sense of smell, making distinguishing between fingers and held food difficult; numerous divers have lost fingers while attempting hand feedings.  The moray's rear-hooked teeth and primitive but strong bite mechanism also makes bites on humans more severe, as the eel cannot release its grip even in death and must be manually pried off. While the majority are not believed to be venomous there may be a few species that are. Any bite should be treated immediately because chance of infection is great. As a general rule Morays rest in their crevices during the day and hunt at night. 

Occasionally, I would go to Hanauma Bay at night to collect fish -- well because they sleep at night and are easier to catch.  Once I went at night (with an underwater light) and saw a Humahumanukanukaapua'a which is a "Trigger Fish" and the state fish of Hawaii. He darted into a small piece of coral. I just picked up the coral and put it into my bucket and voila, there he was. But, on another occasion I was in about four feet of water in an open area the size of a small room. I was circling around looking into the coral for fish. Christine would lay on the beach with a flashlight reading while I was in the water. For some reason I turned around and coming straight at me was a large Moray Eel -- a good six or seven inches in diameter. He got to within three feet of my mask. Now, I am sure I looked like the little 8 year old boy playing his first baseball game and being chased by a bee while playing center field. I jumped up and down and in general made as much noise and commotion as I could muster. That was it for the night! By the time I got to the beach and Christine, my heart was pounding like I just sprinted a 100 yard dash. Once Christine saw that I was unharmed she was able to provide some comfort (after a hardy laugh).

I did purchase two different species of Moray Eels for my aquarium, before moving to Hawaii. One is photographed below. He became very friendly and rose to the surface of the water whenever I would feed him and the other fish. I did occasionally use tweezers to "hand" feed him, but usually just dumped the shrimp in the water for him to catch on his own. Here's the photo (probably 1963 or 4).

Moray Eel