The Morays of Maui

When I came face to face with my first moray almost thirty years ago in Honolua Bay on Maui, I was terrified. I was snorkeling in shallow water close to the rocky shore when the animal appeared to lunge at me. Of course it didn't. Instead, it was most likely nestled in a rocky crevice with mouth agape as it breathed in water and waited for small fish prey. I was new to snorkeling, meeting the vast underwater world for the first time, and just the word moray eel was menacing to me.

Today I'm much more comfortable around these members of the eel family. Hawaii is home to almost forty species of morays, the whitemouth being the most common. In fact on my recent trip to Maui, I saw at least five different specimens of the whitemouth moray at five different sites. An especially fat individual was even one of the last fishes I observed off Napili Beach on the last snorkeling foray of my vacation.

Over the course of the week, I also encountered at least one zebra, one undulated, and one snowflake moray. Each is as exotically patterned as its descriptive name. Meanwhile, Kahekili Beach was where I witnessed the most varieties of morays - three species - but also where I discovered my first stout moray. Like the other morays at the site, it was uncharacteristically viewed in motion, completely unhidden in the bright light of late morning as it traversed the reef.

This trip also provided me with the chance to see my largest moray ever, the yellowmargin. While not at Kahekili but in the Ahihi-Kinau Natural Area Reserve, it also showed its full body and length. I was close to the rocky, volcanic shore when I stumbled on the moray that I initially estimated at close to eight feet in length. Indeed, the species can grow to that size and is one of the bolder morays you'll encounter. My pictures just might have confirmed that the creature was indeed that massive because I could compare it to surgeonfish also appearing in the shot.

At nearby Maluaka I captured a blurry image of one more fully exposed moray as it wriggled deep below me. I couldn't definitively identify the eel; it may be a very light morph of the stout, or even a new species. But at least my Maui trip could count six moray species, two of them - the stout and yellowmargin - brand new finds for me. Any new additions will have to wait until my next visit or when I finally venture into diving, when I can explore deeper areas of the reef where the vast majority of morays reside.