New ambassador animal: The mysterious green moray eel
By Sam Arner: Conservancy Animal Care Naturalist
It moves like a snake, but breathes underwater like a fish. In fact, it is a fish. Green moray eels are misunderstood and the Conservancy wants to shed some light on these mysterious creatures.
Hiding among the cracks and crevices of reefs and rocky shorelines, the green moray eel is found from New Jersey to Bermuda and throughout the Gulf of Mexico. They rarely emerge from their hiding spots, except in search of a new one. When they swim, they move in a serpentine-like pattern, much like a snake. They lack pectoral and pelvic fins, and their dorsal fin extends from the head to the end of its body where it fuses with the caudal and anal fins.
Just like a fish, eels need to constantly pass water over their gills to intake oxygen. However, since eels are typically sedentary animals they have adapted a new method of breathing. Instead of consistently swimming around like other fish, they will open and close their mouths to push water over their gills. This gives them a menacing look, but they need to do this in order to survive.
Eels have poor eyesight, especially in bright light, so they rely heavily on their sense of hearing and smell. Eels prefer food to be bite size so they will ambush octopus, squid, shrimp, fish, and crabs as they swim by. In the instance that they go after a larger prey item the eel has the ability to wrap its muscular body around the food item and tear it apart. Not only do they have a pair of long, sharp teeth, but they have a second pair of teeth that sit in the back of their throat. When feeding eels will throw out this second set of jaws to help shred the food and pull it down into its stomach.
Here is another mind blowing fact….green moray eels aren’t actually green. Their scale-less skin is actually brown. The green coloring comes from yellow mucus that coats the brown skin. This mucus helps protect the eel from any harmful bacteria or parasites.
Unless you are a diver, the chances of you getting up close and personal with an eel are pretty slim. That’s why the Conservancy of Southwest Florida encourages you to stop by our Nature Center and get a close up look at our green moray eel in our Patch Reef exhibit. He was transferred from Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, located over in West Palm, in May of 2018. His name is Gumbo and he seems to enjoy his new home.
Gumbo can be seen hiding out in various crevices of the reef or inside hides provided by the animal care staff. Unlike his relatives out in the wild, Gumbo has been trained to come to the surface to get his meals. So, if you are really lucky, you can see him swimming around the tank in search for food. When he emerges from hiding, his trainers will gently tap on the side of the tank with tongs. The combination of sound and his great sense of smell help lead him to the food. About once a week Gumbo will eat 30 fish in one feed and then small amounts throughout the week.
So, next time you are in the area stop by the Conservancy to check out this mysterious creature of the reef. See for yourself the unique animal that resembles a sea serpent, but is actually a fish. Come see Gumbo and his other fishy friends that lurk beneath the deep blue sea.
