[Coral-List] Moray eel behavior

[Elizabeth Theresa Celia]

Of course, he could be trying to remove parasites. If in fact the octopus
is not there, the eels could be trying to remove ectoparasites by rubbing
and scratching on the substrate. I've seen that before diving. They even
will come up for a scratch. Interesting footage.

Elizabeth

On Thu, May 26, 2022 at 2:20 PM Elizabeth Theresa Celia <ethc4918 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hi!
> I have seen battles between moray eels and octopuses before. This looks
> like a classic case of an octopus attack. There is a lot of activity on the
> reef and a lot of feeding, which most likely attracted the eel. Undetected
> by the eel, the octopus was still inside the coral, and tried to pull the
> eel inside. Luckily for the eel, it was able to finally escape. It's hard
> to see for sure any wounds on the eel; whether the rosy spots are indeed
> wounds or stress coloring. The eel seems disinterested in the octopus and
> just wants to get away.
> It is true that octopus are a yummy meal for the eel along with fish and
> invertebrates. But most likely, the eel found the structure, not realizing
> that the octopus was inside, and was ambushed.
>
> Best,
> Elizabeth
>
> On Thu, May 26, 2022 at 8:13 AM Eduardo Sampaio via Coral-List <
> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> Has anyone seen this type of behavior in moray eels and knows more about
>> it?
>>
>> https://twitter.com/OctoEduardo/status/1528283147103870976
>>
>> I was sent this clip and am very curious on what it could be.
>>
>> All the best,
>> Eduardo
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>