Mediterranean Moray - Muraena helena - Peeking from the Rozi Wreck

A Mediterranean Moray peers from an encrusted opening on the Rozi wreck at Cirkewwa, Malta, while another reef fish passes directly in front of its face.

The Mediterranean Moray (Muraena helena) is a powerful reef-dwelling eel with a long, muscular body, a large mouth armed with sharp teeth and conspicuous tubular nostrils projecting from the snout. Its smooth, scaleless skin is usually dark brown to violet-brown and patterned with irregular pale yellowish or whitish marbling that provides effective camouflage among rocks and encrusted surfaces. The dorsal, caudal and anal fins form a continuous fin around the rear of the body, while pectoral and pelvic fins are absent. Mediterranean Morays are mainly nocturnal and territorial, spending much of the day concealed in rocky crevices, caves, holes and artificial structures before emerging to hunt. Their diet includes fishes, crabs and cephalopods. The species occurs throughout the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic and can reach approximately 150 centimetres in length. This photograph captures a moray peering from an old encrusted opening on the Rozi wreck at Cirkewwa in Malta, with only its head exposed as another reef fish passes directly across the foreground.