White-eyed Moray

Overview

The White-eyed Moray, also called the greyface, freckled or slender moray, is a medium-sized reef eel of the Indo-Pacific. Its pale eyes make it easy to tell from other morays. It is often seen sharing a crevice with another moray.

Distribution & habitat

This moray lives across the tropical Indo-Pacific. Its range runs from Christmas Island and the Maldives to French Polynesia, north to southern Japan and the Ryukyu Islands, and south to Australia, New Caledonia and Tonga. It favors shallow, somewhat turbid water. You can find it in lagoons, sheltered reefs, reef flats and tidal pools, and around debris and shipwrecks.

Appearance

The slender, snake-like body is pale yellowish-brown and covered in many small dark spots. The head is grey to brownish with a lighter snout tip. The eyes are white with a small black pupil.

Biology & behavior

During the day it stays in a shelter, usually in a pair or small group and often alongside other moray species. At night it leaves its lair to hunt.

Feeding

It is a carnivore. It eats crustaceans, small fish and octopus.