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Also called green cong, green conger, green congo, green eel and olive-green eel, the green moray eel is thus named for its dark green to brown color. However, its thick, scaleless skin is uniformly dark. Its greenish tint is produced by a yellow mucus it secretes as protection from disease and parasites. Averaging 6 feet in length and 30 lbs, individuals may grow as large as 8 ft. and 65 lbs. The eels range along the western Atlantic from New Jersey, through the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, south to Brazil, usually living on coral reefs, rocky shorelines, and in mangroves in water less than 100 ft deep. Green morays also inhabit the waters around Ascension Island in the eastern Atlantic.
A nocturnal hunter, the green moray has poor eyesight, mostly hunting by smell. During the day, it hides in rocky crevices, its head emerging from the opening. By night, hunts fish, squid, crabs, shrimp, and sometimes other eels. Whether or not it is feeding, its mouth is constantly opening and closing, forcing water through its gills for oxygen.
Green moray bites are dangerous, but rare. Most bites occur when divers, snorkelers, and swimmers indiscriminately thrust their feet or hands into crevices on coral reefs or try to feed the eels by hand. Thus the green moray eel illustrates one of the basic tenants of common sense: it is generally unwise to hand-feed wild animals with large sharp teeth.
Nature picture credits (left to right): Photo © Jos Mata (Green Moray Eel); Photo © Cornelius Opstal (closeup).
