Ask a group of divers coming up from a Punta Cana reef what they saw, and a moray eel is often on the list. Morays spend the day with their bodies hidden in the reef and only the head showing, mouth slowly opening and closing. Once you learn where to look, you start finding them on almost every dive: in a crack under a coral head, inside a wreck, beneath a ledge with a cleaner shrimp working on their face.
That open mouth and those teeth give morays a fierce reputation they mostly do not deserve. They are shy, poor-sighted predators that hunt mainly at night and would much rather you went past. This is a field guide to the three morays we see most around Punta Cana, where they live and how to enjoy them without trouble.
Quick Facts
- Name: moray eels (family Muraenidae); our common species are the green moray (Gymnothorax funebris), spotted moray (Gymnothorax moringa) and goldentail moray (Gymnothorax miliaris)
- Size: green moray commonly around 1.5 m (5 ft) and up to about 2.5 m (8 ft); spotted moray usually well under 1 m; goldentail moray commonly about 40 cm (16 in), up to 70 cm
- Diet: fish, octopus, crabs, shrimp and lobster
- Activity: mostly nocturnal; by day they rest in holes with the head out
- Depth: shallow reefs and wrecks, from just below the surface to around 50 m (165 ft)
- Range: all three live in the tropical western Atlantic, including the whole Caribbean
The Short Version of the Science
Morays have no gill covers, only small round gill openings behind the head, so they open and close the mouth to keep water flowing over their gills. That steady gaping is breathing, not a threat. They are also famous for a second set of jaws in the throat that shoots forward to drag prey down, which lets them feed from inside a narrow hole where suction would not work. For the full explanation, cooperative hunting with groupers and the other Caribbean species, read our deep dive: moray eels, types, behavior and the second set of jaws.
How to Recognize Our Three Common Morays
All morays share a long, scaleless, muscular body with one continuous fin running along the back, around the tail and under the belly. There are no visible pectoral fins. Telling the species apart comes down to color, pattern and size.
Green moray
The big one. It looks uniformly olive to grass green, with no spots. The green is a trick of the light: the skin is actually brown, covered in a yellowish mucus that reads as green underwater. If the moray you are looking at is huge and plain green, it is this one.
Spotted moray
The one you are most likely to meet. The body is pale, from white to cream or yellowish, densely covered in small dark spots and speckles, giving it a pepper-sprinkled look. It is much slimmer than a green moray and often sits in tighter holes.
Goldentail moray
Small and colorful. Usually dark brown densely covered with small yellow or gold spots, and, as the name says, a yellow tip to the tail, although you rarely see the tail of a hiding eel. It often lives in very shallow water.
Look-alikes
The purplemouth moray is mottled and shows a dark purple lining when it opens its mouth. The chain moray has bold dark and yellow chain-like markings. Snake eels, such as the sharptail eel, are often seen moving across sand or reef in daylight; they belong to another family and have a hard, pointed tail tip instead of the moray's rounded fin.
Behavior You Can Watch
Daytime is resting time, so most encounters are a head in a hole, watching you. Spend a minute there and you may see a moray visited at a cleaning station, with small shrimp or gobies walking over its head and even inside its open mouth to pick off parasites. It is one of the best close-up sights on a Caribbean reef.
Late in the afternoon and at night morays leave their holes and hunt, sliding through the reef and following scent, since their eyesight is poor. Octopus, crabs, lobsters and sleeping fish are all on the menu; the mucus cocoons of sleeping parrotfish are thought to help hide them from exactly this kind of hunter. A green moray swimming in the open at dusk is an impressive animal.
Where to See Moray Eels in Punta Cana
Morays are common on our local reefs; the trick is looking into the shade. At Cuevitas, around 10 m (33 ft), the swim-throughs and small caves are full of the cracks morays love, often shared with spiny lobsters and cleaner shrimp. The canyons and crevices of Rock City are another good bet, and wrecks are classic moray homes: look in and around the boiler and engine of Wreck Monica at about 15 m (50 ft), and around the hull of the Submarine on our beginner sites.
Spotted and goldentail morays are the ones you will see most often. Green morays are less frequent but turn up in larger holes and on wrecks. Our guides know many of the regular hiding spots, so watch for their signal. You can also find the moray on our species guide.
Diving Etiquette and Photo Tips
- Never put your hand into a hole or crevice you can't see into. Almost every moray bite involves a hand near the head, a hand-feeding session or a cornered animal.
- Don't feed morays. An eel that links divers with food starts approaching people, and with poor eyesight it can mistake fingers for a meal.
- Approach slowly from the side and stop at a respectful distance. If the eel pulls back into its hole, you are too close.
- Keep fins and gauges off the reef while you look into crevices; good buoyancy matters more than ever here.
- For photos, wait instead of moving closer. A moray that relaxes will often slide out a little further, and a shot of the face with the mouth slightly open is the classic portrait.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are moray eels dangerous to divers?
Not if you leave them alone. They do not attack divers, but they can bite if someone reaches into their hole, grabs them or feeds them, and their backward-pointing teeth make bites messy. Any bite should be seen by a doctor.
Why do moray eels open and close their mouths?
To breathe. Without gill covers to pump water, they gape to move water over their gills. It is not a sign of aggression.
How big do green moray eels get?
Commonly about 1.5 m, with the largest recorded around 2.5 m. That makes the green moray the largest moray you are likely to see in the Caribbean.
Can beginners see moray eels in Punta Cana?
Yes. Morays live on our shallow reefs and wrecks, so they are regularly seen on beginner dives as well as deeper ones.
Ready to go looking in the cracks? Join us for a two-tank reef dive in Punta Cana and let our guides show you where the morays live.
