by Ranger Jim Serpa

Disgusting! Ugly! Hideous! These are just some of the adjectives I hear visitors use in describing the two California morays we have on display in our aquariums. People often ask if the morays can shock you, if they are venomous and will they attack swimmers. Morays do not possess any apparatus that can produce electricity like their distantly related cousin the electric eel. In fact, the moray is actually a member of the family Muraneidae which differs from the classic eels in that they do not possess any pectoral fins. Slight differences in their teeth and nostrils also help differentiate the two.

Morays are not venomous although they do have razor sharp teeth that tend to have loads of bacteria on them. This bacteria can cause infections to the unlucky few who do get bit by them. The Latin translation for the moray's species name, mordax, means prone to bite. This is a bit misleading because the moray is actually a shy, nocturnal fish hiding in caves and crevices during the day, only coming out at night to feed. This penchant for hiding in gaps in the reefs can often cause an inexperienced diver to be bitten. I have never seen or read about a moray actually biting a diver right out of the blue. People have been injured, however, reaching in between rocks for lobsters or abalone without first making sure the crevice isn't occupied by a soon-to-feel threatened moray. OUCH!

As a young snorkling enthusiast back in the 70's I was petrified of stories told to me of killer morays in the caves of La Jolla. The stories went something like this: "Be careful diving in those caves because out of no where giant morays will swim up from the depths, latch on to any available body part and hang on for dear life." The only way to get these swimming bulldogs off (so it was said) was to kill them, cut off their bodies, go to a doctor and have him pry the jaws of death apart. I now know this is pure fiction and have on numerous dives fed these shy creatures by hand. Our two morays here at the Visitor Center are possibly the mellowest fish we have on display.

California morays can be found anywhere there are rocky reefs. They range from Pt. Conception to Southern Baja in depths from subtidal to 130 feet. Hunting with their keen sense of smell morays prefer to dine on octopus, crustaceans and small reef fish. The ink from an alarmed octopus actually dulls the moray's ability to smell, allowing the octopus a better chance of escaping.

Unlike many fish, morays lack body scales and gill covers. This lack of scales relates directly to it's Latin Genus name, Gymnothorax, which means naked chest. The skin is covered with a yellowish mucus which acts as a lubricant in the cramped rocky quarters where morays spend most of their lives. The fact that they don't have gill covers requires the morays to draw water in through their mouths and over their gills. This opening and closing of their mouths (exposing their pearly whites) often confuses people, who are unfamiliar with their biology, into thinking the morays are being aggressive. Nothing could be further from the truth. They're just breathing!

There is talk of California morays growing up to six feet in length. I would venture to say that if you did see one that large it would be the Shaquille O'Neal of the moray world. Morays, on average, grow to a length of three to four feet as adults. A one foot long specimen is probably two years old. It is thought their life span is about 30 years or more. One pair lived in the aquariums at Scripps for 27 years. Recently scientists have posed a theory that the Southern California moray is really just a transplant. It seems the water is just too chilly off Southern California for the morays to reproduce. These scientists feel that most, if not all, our morays are hatched off Baja and float north on currents as larvae, eventually settling on our reefs to grow into adults.

Moray teeth have been found in Indian midden sights along coastal Southern California. In Paul and Mavis Hill's book "The Edible Sea," they state that at one banquet given by Caesar, several thousand Mediterranean morays were eaten! Morays are said to have a delicious chicken-like flavor (doesn't everything?) but must be cooked slowly. The skin must be removed before cooking because of the noxious oils found in it.