Yellow-edged moray facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Yellow-edged moray |
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The yellow-edged moray is a type of moray eel. It is also known as the yellow-margin moray, leopard moray, or speckled moray. Its scientific name is Gymnothorax flavimarginatus. This eel lives in the Indo-Pacific Oceans, found in waters up to 150 m (500 ft) deep.
What Does It Look Like?
Yellow-edged morays are long, thin fish. They have a head that is a bit round and a snout that is also rounded. Their tail gets thinner slowly towards the end.
Their large mouth has a row of small, pointy teeth on the bottom jaw. They also have more teeth on the roof of their mouth. The fin on their back (called the dorsal fin) starts just behind their head. It goes all the way along their back and around their tail. This fin then connects to the tail fin and the fin on their belly.
A yellow-edged moray can grow up to about 240 cm (90 in) long. That's almost 8 feet! But most of them are around 80 cm (30 in) long. Their body is usually a dull yellow color. It has dark brown or black spots all over, making it look mottled. Their head is a purplish-grey. They also have a big black spot near their gills. The edges of the fins near their tail are yellowish or greenish. Younger eels might have a brighter yellow body with brown spots.
Where Do They Live?
The yellow-edged moray lives in warm, tropical parts of the Indo-Pacific region. You can find them from East Africa and the Red Sea all the way to Japan, Indonesia, and Australia. They also live near the Hawaiian islands, New Caledonia, and even near Costa Rica, Panama, and the Galápagos Islands.
They usually live in coral reefs or rocky areas. They like the flat parts of reefs and the protected sides of reefs that face the open ocean. They can be found from the surface down to about 150 m (500 ft) deep.
How Do They Live?
The yellow-edged moray usually lives alone. It likes to hide in cracks in rocks or buried in the sand. Often, only its head sticks out. Sometimes, it might share its hiding spot with other yellow-edged morays or different types of moray eels.
These eels are mostly active at night. However, they also swim around freely in the morning and evening. They eat fish, squid, and crabs. If a fish gets hurt on the reef, these moray eels quickly show up. They can sense when fish are injured or stressed.
Scientists recently found that the yellow-edged moray is a natural hunter of the lionfish (Pterois miles). This happens in the Red Sea, where both fish live. There's also a type of shrimp called Stenopus pyrsonotus that is often seen near yellow-edged morays. This suggests the shrimp might clean the eel in a special partnership called symbiosis.
Images for kids
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Yellow-edged moray near Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt
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Yellow-edged moray
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Yellow-edged moray
See also
In Spanish: Gymnothorax flavimarginatus para niños
