Eels you have seen in Cozumel

[Crass3000]

Have REALLY been into shooting different types of snake eels, morays, etc. I have been thinking about hitting Cozumel. What types of eels do you run into a lot and are there any other eels that you or others you know have seen in the area?

 

[ggunn]

Sharptail (very snakelike), green moray, spotted moray (green speckles on black), and a variety of moray I have seen only once that was yellow with large brown spots.

 

[sharky60]

yeah, what Gordon said. ;-) quite a nice variety...

we have some VERY large Green Morays, the Sharptails used to be kind of hard to find, but i seen them quite often now.

 

[robint]

We have seen: Green moray, Spotted moray, Goldentail moray, sharptail eel, purplemouth moray, chain moray. ALL of these we have seen on the shore dive in front of SCC. WE have photos of each on our website, too.

FYI... there are no snake eels in the Caribbean. A snake eel is actually a snake, which means it breathes air and must come to the surface, then hold its breath as it dives down to hunt. They are in Pacific.

 

[redacted]

FYI... there are no snake eels in the Caribbean. A snake eel is actually a snake, which means it breathes air and must come to the surface, then hold its breath as it dives down to hunt. They are in Pacific.

According to Paul Humann, Caribbean eels include the family Snake Eels - Ophichthidae. I have seen 3 varieties on shore dives from Scuba Club. The Sharptail Eel is quite common while the Spotted Snake Eel and Goldspotted Eel are rare. That shore dive has also produced many Spotted moray and Goldentail moray as well as the less common Purplemouth Moray and Chain Moray. Green Moray and Garden eels are found in deeper sites during boat dives.

There are no Sea Snakes in the Caribbean.

 

[mstevens]

Agreed. What are commonly referred to as "snake eels" are (as their name implies) eels. They're all over the place on night dives in Cozumel, the Sharptail Eel being the most common.

 

[ggunn]

We have seen: ... chain moray.

Thanks. That's the one I was talking about that I have only seen once; it was at the southwest corner of the stingray pen next to Blue Angel.

Lyn Hardy Photography | Caribbean Sea Underwater

 

[Darol]

A few I've seen...

 

[BrewingDiver]

Thanks. That's the one I was talking about that I have only seen once; it was at the southwest corner of the stingray pen next to Blue Angel.

Lyn Hardy Photography | Caribbean Sea Underwater

Yes, saw him last time there, almost two years ago on a couple dives. But not one anywhere else yet.

 

[jlyle]

The odd couple.



Viper


Unknown eel


Peek-a-boo


black spotted snake eel


golden tail, reverse color


purple mouth