Reef Fish

Giant Moray Eel

Gymnothorax javanicus · Bony fish — family Muraenidae (moray eels); the largest moray by mass on Indo-Pacific reefs

The open mouth reads as menace but is only breathing — morays pump water over their gills by gaping, and the giant moray spends daylight doing exactly that from a favorite crevice. It is the largest moray on Indo-Pacific reefs, thick as a diver's thigh, patterned in leopard spots that darken with age. Cleaner wrasses and shrimp work inside the open jaws at station after station; hang back and let the appointment finish. In the Red Sea, giant morays have been documented hunting cooperatively with roving coral groupers, the grouper signaling over a hidden fish and the eel flushing it out. Bites almost always trace back to feeding attempts or hands placed into holes. Look into a crevice before you brace on anything, and keep fingers off the reef.