That's A Moray Monday

You might think that with over 200 described species of moray eels, selecting a candidate eel to feature each week would be a snap. But just because there are over 200 described species doesn't mean finding suitable pictures for my posts is easy. A lot of the taxonomic images for the less-common moray species are photos of pickled specimens that sat in jars of formalin for days, weeks, or years before someone got around to describing the species. Needless to say, not the most compelling imagery. Regular readers will note that I like to feature living specimens in natural settings. Call me picky, but I like living things.

Anyway, it took some searching but I found a great eel to feature this week with plenty of on-reef shots.

Mosaic Moray
Enchelycore ramosa

I think someone goofed on the common name of this moray species. While perhaps Mosaic moray could be used to describe the mosaic-like pattern of splotches and geometric shapes along the eels body, I think a better name might be Scary Mouth-Full-of-Teeth moray. Typical of the Enchelycore genus, the Mosaic moray sports a gaping mouth with needle-sharp teeth along the margins of the arched jaws as well as teeth studding the roof of the mouth. All the better to grasp and hold onto small reef fish, crustaceans, and juvenile reef octopus.

The Mosaic eel is yellow to grey in color with a mosaic pattern of darker lines. It reaches a maximum length of about 150 cm. (4.9 ft.). It inhabits coral and rocky reefs in the subtropical and temperate Pacific from southeast Australia and New Zealand eastward to Easter Island.