Sunday, December 14, 2008

Dying Moray Eels

Always felt Morays were quite amazing predators.. both shy and vicious. Seeing one writhing like that is rather scary. I hope I never ever get to see this in South-East Asia. Or anywhere for that matter.
"It doesn't sound like there has been any sort of major, published, peer-reviewed, quantitative documentation of this yet. But that said, something is not right when so many sport divers not only count dozens of dead or dying eels.. "


btw... was surfing on moray eels and discovered that groupers and moray eels actually engage in cooperative hunting! its old news but first time i've heard it! Check out the cool videos on the open-access PLoS Biology site.
"They found groupers often visited giant morays resting in their crevices and rapidly shook their heads an inch or so from the eels to recruit them in a joint hunt. At times this call took place after a grouper failed in its hunt because prey escaped into a crevice the grouper could not get into but a giant moray might. If the moray emerged, the grouper guided the eel to a crevice where prey was hiding. Groupers sometimes even performed a headstand and shook its head over a prey hiding place to attract moray eels to the site. At times the moray ate the fish it rooted out, while at other times the grouper did." - MSNBC

No comments: