Morays Eels: The Evil Monsters Of The Ocean
Do you remember Flotsam and Jetsam, the moray eels which were the minions of the sea witch Ursula in The Little Mermaid? They were perhaps the only intelligent villains in contrast with all the failed, silly, brainless bad guys featuring in other Disney movies. Well, there is a good reason for that. Moray Eels are truly nasty creatures, deadly predators and sworn enemies to the octopus. The larger species of moray eels are usually the top predators in their ecosystems. They lurk in the shadows of crevices and ambush their victims with an incredible speed. Once captured between the powerful jaws of the moray eel, its victim has almost no hope of survival.
Octopus Regeneration
The poor octopus in this video is moving unsuspectingly across the coral sea bed. All of a sudden, the hidden moray eel sneak attacks the octopus. Both of the creatures struggle, the eel to secure its grasp of the octopus and the octopus to pull away. Finally, their force breaks them apart and the octopus flees the battleground and hides in a nearby hole. It tries to camouflage itself, perhaps in the fear that the eel will return to finish its meal off.
But the jaws of the moray eel have already ensured a good meal. The octopus is missing a part of its body, which has most probably been swallowed by the moray eel in tens of seconds.
Let us hope it is an arm and not part of the vital organs hidden within the mantle of the octopus.
The octopus can survive with less than eight arms. As soon as an octopus loses or damages an arm, the process of regrowing it is initiated and it is completed when the limb is made whole again, up to its last nerve and sucker. This process lasts for around 100 days and it is surely one of main reasons why octopuses are such magical creatures.
So Moray Eel versus Octopus is a tie. At least for now…
