 Eels have evolved a very flexible and elongated body shape that allows them access to more food sources than other fishes: animals that are hiding deep within crevices of the reef. Some can even swim under the sand. To help with this, they have no pectoral fins or lobed tails. Instead, they have a single, long, dorsal fin running the length of their bodies. As they swim, they will twist their bodies 90 degrees and undulate to move them forward. Green Moray from Caribbean Reef Life on Vimeo.  Eels are carnivores, and mostly hunt at night. They have large extended nostrils and a very keen sense of smell to help them find their food in the darkness. Green Morays have a series of backward facing teeth on the roofs of their mouths to help keep prey from escaping.
Eels are beginning to hunt lionfish on their own, but now the practice of feeding lionfish to them is discouraged, as the eels are following groups of divers, and even molesting them, instead of hunting for themselves.
0 Comments
|
Mickey Charteris
Is a Canadian-born South African living in Honduras, who no longer knows where his accent is from. He has been diving all over the world, but has chosen Roatan as his home because of it's incredible underwater biodiversity. He has spent many thousands of hours underwater, and he is still finding something new on every dive. Archives:
February 2014
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed