Did you know ?
The moray eel stays in its hole during the day and comes out at night to hunt for fish, crustaceans and molluscs that it detects by smelling them. They are generally more timid than aggressive but divers are advised to check before putting their hand into a hole!
This snake-like fish has no scales and can be as much as 1.30m long. It has a large, bullet-shaped head with protruding nostrils. Its dorsal, caudal and anal fins are confluent and it is without pectoral and pelvic fins. Its colouring varies. It can be chocolate brown or mauve and mottled with yellow or white. Moray eels live in crevices on rocky bottoms down to more than 100m deep. They are found all over the Mediterranean except in the Black Sea, and in the Atlantic from the British Isles to Senegal.
Phylum: Vertebrates
Class: Osteichthyes
Order: Anguilliformes
Family: Muraenidae
Scientific name: Muraena helena
French: Murène
Spanish: Morena
Italian: Murena
German: Muräne