Giant moray eel

Photo: Luis P. B. · CC BY-NC

The giant moray reaches up to 3 metres in length and is the largest moray species in the Indo-Pacific and Hawaiian waters, where it occupies the apex predator niche on reef structure. At First Cathedral, individuals have occupied the same wall crevices for years and are familiar with dive groups — they open and close their mouths to pump oxygenated water over their gills rather than as aggression, though their size and tooth geometry can cause serious wounds if handled. They hunt cooperatively with roving grouper in a documented interspecies hunting partnership, with the moray flushing prey from crevices while grouper wait in open water.