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Morays: The Alien Eels

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  • A Tiger moray eel with its jaws open. The Tiger Moray is distinctive for its bright yellow coloring and elongated jaw, which is filled with a large number of long
  • Wildlife filmmaker Natali Tesche-Riccardi observed a pair of morays engaged in an elegant mating dance, she also discovered morays communicating with Grouper fish to form a deadly hunting partnership - an astonishing interspecies cooperation.
  • A Honeycomb moray eel swimming near the rocky bottom of the ocean floor. There are more than 200 species that inhabit tropical and subtropical seas across the planet.
  • A moray eel wide with it's jaws wide open. High speed footage of feeding morays reveals a second set of jaws deep in the throat that shoots forward to grab the struggling victim and draw it towards the stomach.
  • The reclusive morays emerge from the reef to hunt for fish and gulp them down whole.
  • A Moray eel amongst coral. Wildlife filmmaker Natali Tesche-Riccardi's team discovers that below the surface of the coral reefs lies a labyrinth of nooks and crannies - inhabited by many morays. Their flattened mucus-covered bodies are specially adapted to tunnel into these impossibly tight spaces.
  • Wildlife filmmaker Natali Tesche-Riccardi leads an international team of scientists and filmmakers on a global adventure, to uncover the secrets of moray eels.
  • A diver and moray eel face to face. The fearsome reputation of the eel is a nothing more than a myth.
  • Matt Butcher's foot with four toes. His one toe was removed to replace the thumb he lost when hand feeding a moray eel.
  • Matt Butcher pointing to thumb. Matt Butcher is a diver that had a gruesome and painful encounter with a moray that he was feeding by hand. What happened next was captured on camera, and Matt describes what it feels like to be bitten by a moray, and the remarkable operation to replace his thumb, with one of his toes.

  • Tiger Eel

    Photograph by Tesche Dokumentarfilm

    A Tiger moray eel with its jaws open. The Tiger Moray is distinctive for its bright yellow coloring and elongated jaw, which is filled with a large number of long "glasslike" teeth. It can reach up to 120 cm in length.

  • Mating Dance

    Photograph by Tesche Dokumentarfilm

    Wildlife filmmaker Natali Tesche-Riccardi observed a pair of morays engaged in an elegant mating dance, she also discovered morays communicating with Grouper fish to form a deadly hunting partnership - an astonishing interspecies cooperation.

  • Honeycomb Eel

    Photograph by Tesche Dokumentarfilm

    A Honeycomb moray eel swimming near the rocky bottom of the ocean floor. There are more than 200 species that inhabit tropical and subtropical seas across the planet.

  • Massive Jaws

    Photograph by Tesche Dokumentarfilm

    A moray eel wide with it's jaws wide open. High speed footage of feeding morays reveals a second set of jaws deep in the throat that shoots forward to grab the struggling victim and draw it towards the stomach.

  • Fish Feast

    Photograph by Tesche Dokumentarfilm

    The reclusive morays emerge from the reef to hunt for fish and gulp them down whole.

  • Curled Among the Coral

    Photograph by Tesche Dokumentarfilm

    A Moray eel amongst coral. Wildlife filmmaker Natali Tesche-Riccardi's team discovers that below the surface of the coral reefs lies a labyrinth of nooks and crannies - inhabited by many morays. Their flattened mucus-covered bodies are specially adapted to tunnel into these impossibly tight spaces.

  • Natali Tesche-Riccardi

    Photograph by Tesche Dokumentarfilm

    Wildlife filmmaker Natali Tesche-Riccardi leads an international team of scientists and filmmakers on a global adventure, to uncover the secrets of moray eels.

  • Eel One-on-One

    Photograph by Tesche Dokumentarfilm

    A diver and moray eel face to face. The fearsome reputation of the eel is a nothing more than a myth.

  • Missing a Toe

    Photograph by Parthenon Entertainment Ltd.

    Matt Butcher's foot with four toes. His one toe was removed to replace the thumb he lost when hand feeding a moray eel.

  • Finger Replacement

    Photograph by Parthenon Entertainment Ltd.

    Matt Butcher pointing to thumb. Matt Butcher is a diver that had a gruesome and painful encounter with a moray that he was feeding by hand. What happened next was captured on camera, and Matt describes what it feels like to be bitten by a moray, and the remarkable operation to replace his thumb, with one of his toes.
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