Category: Marine Life

Mystic Moray

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After more than six years in diving I have adored the depths and the amazing life in it, with increasing passion I wanted to know closely the interesting creatures that contain this mysterious world. My encounters with them were all in silence, even with restraint and patience, for them bigger species (like divers) are threatening and must be avoided. There are few of them that are generous and stood their ground even with my presence, face to face encounters are rare moments which I always treasure.

Moray Eels (Muraenidae) are interesting and just one of my favorite friends, I always stop at a distance for a quick observation – round eyes, naughty grin with razor teeth, elongated body like snake, brown or deep blue countenance – what a beauty! It could just easily glide away if feeling threatened, it is always my joy to glance at it without moving, and watch in awe how it gawk at me as if wondering what kind of fish I am! Glorious, but sadly I can’t touch my moray but just gaze in wonder.

I gathered few facts about this specie, few things that I must always remember when I dive expecting encounter with them:

1. Moray eels are found in shallow tropical ocean waters throughout the world, and live in crevices around reefs and rocks.
2. While moray eels look like snakes, they are actually fish which lack scales.
3. Morays are covered by a slimy mucus that allows them to quickly slither around reefs without getting all scratched up.
4. Morays have poor eyesight, and are known to accidentally bite the fingers off of divers who feed them (so don’t).
5. Cleaner shrimp and cleaner wrasses (tiny fish) coexist with morays and eat the parasites that live on them.
6. Moray eels are one of the few species of fish that can swim backwards.
7. Morays look menacing and scary, but they are relatively docile fish that will only attack if threatened (for example by a diver reaching into a moray’s hiding spot).
8. Morays are predators that typically hunt at night using their sense of smell; their prey include fish, crustaceans, octopus and squid.
9. Morays can cause ciguatera food poisoning if eaten by humans. The symptoms include serious gastrointestinal and neurological conditions
10. To breathe, moray eels must continually open and close their mouths to move water over their gills. Scuba divers often incorrectly interpret this behavior as threatening

It is comforting to note that morays are never aggressive but just like me and my cat, they are docile and undoubtedly lovable.  And I always considered it a compliment if a moray would stop and stare back at me as if saying – we are friends!

Few Facts on Sharks

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Reef sharks in a cavern in Gato island, Malapascua
Reef sharks in a cavern in Gato Island, Malapascua

In celebration of Shark Week, which was originally developed to raise awareness and respect for sharks, it would be interesting to know few facts about this often misunderstood species.. Hopefully, this will gain more understanding of this amazing marine creatures.

1. Sharks move like airplanes. They create forward movement with their tails (like propellers) and water moves over their fins like wings

2. Different sharks have different etiquette for feeding. Caribbean reef sharks, for example, have a pecking order catering to large sharks 1st

3. Certain shark species (such as great white) will drown if they stop moving. They lack necessary muscles to pump water through their mouth

4. Blue sharks are piggy eaters. They’ll keep eating until they regurgitate, after which they go back to eating!

5. 20% of sharks are close to extinction because of commercial fisheries accidentally catching sharks with their hooks and nets

6. Researchers have discovered common objects (tires, gasoline tanks, and license plates) left intact inside the stomachs of tiger sharks

7. Hammerhead sharks’ oddly shaped heads, called cephalofoils, are equipped with electrical sensors, making them superior hunters

8. Sharks aren’t color blind. Divers have claimed that sharks are attracted to certain colors, such as the “yummy yellow” of some wetsuits

9. Almost 50 different shark species have light-emitting organs called photospheres. Sharks use their light for camouflage and to attract mates

10. A shark’s size relates to where it hunts: smaller sharks feed near the ocean floor, while larger sharks hunt in the middle ocean depths

11. When the USS Indianapolis was attacked by a shark during World War II, 900 sailors were stranded in the Philippine Sea near Guam for 4 days

12. While more likely to die from drowning, surfers can succumb to shark attacks because of their boards, which to great whites resemble seals

13. Shark fin soup is a delicacy in China and is served at important events like weddings and anniversaries. The dried fins resemble noodles

14. You can’t see a shark’s ears, but their inner ears can track sounds of their prey from lengths of more than 800 feet (244 meters)

15. Sharks are susceptible to the moon’s control of ocean tides. Moon phases affect sharks’ eating habits and draw them closer to shore

16. Sharks have an astounding sense of smell, so powerful that they can detect a single drop of blood in an Olympic-sized pool

17. Signs that a circling shark will attack: it will hunch its back, lower its pectoral fins (fins near its belly) and swim in zigzag motions

18. Even though sharks have razor-sharp teeth, they don’t use them for chewing prey. They are for ripping; resulting chunks are swallowed whole

19. Punching a shark in the nose or poking its eyes can help to fend it off during an attack. Most sharks don’t want to work hard for their food

20. While many of us have learned to fear sharks, they are the ones who should fear us. Humans kill 73 million sharks annually

NB. Photo courtesy of my dive buddy Angel during our dive at Gato Island

Blue Spotted Stingray

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Blue spotted stingray are bottom dwellers frequently on sandy area
Blue spotted stingray are bottom dwellers frequently on sandy area

The bluespotted stingray (Neotrygon kuhlii) or Kuhl’s stingray, is a species of stingray of the Dasyatidae family. It is light green with blue spots. Its disk width hovers around 42 centimeters (17 in). It is popular in aquaria but usually not distinguished from the bluespotted ribbontail ray. The ribbontail is rounder with brighter blue and more vivid spots, but the bluespotted stingray is larger.[1] The stingray’s maximum age estimate is from one to eighteen years of age. The bluespotted stingray preys on many fish and small mollusks, but is also preyed on by the killer whale and hammer head shark.[2] The bluespotted stingray is also generally found in Indonesia to Japan, and south to Northern Australia. The bluespotted stingray is also targeted by many parasites such as tapeworms, flatworms, and flukes.

Our second and third dive in Bacuit Bay last June was graced by these interesting species and what a joy, it was my first up-close encounter with them.  One was camouflaging on the white sands. Our DM poked it and it just hopped few steps from us, obviously not disturbed by our presence. Its disk gracefully flapped and landed peacefully on the sands again.  The myth was that they can whip with their powerful tails with poison.  But it appeared friendly and calmly resting, though not playful.

I relaized that Entalula Island and Twin Rocks are identified sanctuaries of stingrays, perhaps if I got the chance to dive again at El Nido in the future, I could chance upon a herd of them lining up with their pups. Then I could swim with them side by side while they flap gracefully.  Just like Stingray City in the Grand Cayman!

NB. Photo credits to http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu