The hunt
A green moray is devouring a beautifully looking striped black fish. The moray is holding the fish between its jaws and occasionally shakes its head violently.
The fish is alive, trying to twist and turn. A dozen yellow fish, about the size of the black fish, are hovering around rapidly, centimeters from the contact point between the moray’s jaws and the fish's belly. They are waiting for something to be released into the water as a result of this kill. But the fish is still wholesome.
Green moray. Painful bite. Image: public domain
The reef here is very shallow, there’s only maybe 50 centimeters of water on top of it. It’s covered in green-gray algae but some corals are developing. I’m floating on top of the kill scene, very close. I only have my swim goggles with me so I have to lift my head above the water to get some air and quickly dip it in again to see what’s happening.
Green moray at wait on the reef
Photo credit: Bernard DUPONTGreen Moray (Gymnothorax funebris) (36296310840), CC BY-SA 2.0
Photo credit: Bernard DUPONTGreen Moray (Gymnothorax funebris) (36296310840), CC BY-SA 2.0
The moray is now twisting and turning with the fish still struggling between her teeth. It is a very very green and beautiful moray. The mouth is wide open and rows of small white sharp teeth gripping on the the fish lower belly from below.
Another chance at life
In a split second, the fish manages to break free from the moray's jaws. The moray launches after the fish but it is gone from sight in lightning speed. The moray still moves around the area, snaking between the see grass and rocks. Then it takes a break and nervously settles in a crevice. Lucky it did not bite me, I think to myself and carry on swimming to the private beach behind the reef. But the water is too low. There’s not enough depth for me to pass above the rocks even if I fill my lungs for maximal floating and flatten my body to the max.
I’ve seen morays here before while swimming on top of the shallow reef. Not very large but certainly scary looking and very beautiful. They usually hang in their holes with just their head peeping, mouth slightly ajar. I’ve seen many morays arrive with the fisherman catch in Cape Verde and in the Canaries. The local kids on the shore cleaned them and stripped the skin off of them.
The fish-moray enigma
I never understood how come fish swim very close around these waiting morays. What, they do not see there’s a dangerous moray right next to them? And the moray, how come it does not jump on these fish? They are just a short launch and bite away.
Golden blue and silver black
As I climb back on boat's deck, the minutes right after sunset are especially gilded this evening. There’s something extremely clear and pristine in the baby blue golden skies, and the silvery-black of the water. Very relaxing to the eyes. Perfect wavelengths. The wind, too, stopped blowing. Those short and violent gusts are gone, at least for now.
Moonlight and sunet interactions
What’s that moving on the floor? Half moon is hanging directly overhead. A square of its silver light enters the cabin through the small top hatch, and it’s dancing on the wooden floorboards. I find it hard to believe the moonlight is stronger than the light of the setting sun. I kneel closer to the floor to verify that the movement below, what looked like a flat cat for a second, is indeed a square of moonlight. It is. Never did I see that before, simultaneous moonlight and sunlight.
Sunset in Prickly Bay, Grenada, West Indies, April 2019. Photo: @yannay
@yannay
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