R(eel)y Photogenic Moray Pair on Ahyi Seamount

🎵When you're deep in the sea on the seamount Ahyi, there's two morays! With a gape, blink small eyes, at a robot that flies- it's a moray! 🎵

Despite looking like Disney's Flotsam and Jetsam, these two eels showcase the wide color variability of the species Gymnothorax genus of moray eels. These Gymnothorax berndti and Gymnothorax elegant were filmed by ROV Hercules while exploring the summit of Ahyi Seamount, between Maug and Uracus in the Northern Mariana Islands. Living together as "roommates" as the team jokes, is not uncommon for morays, which are known to even hunt cooperatively on the reef with groupers. 

Adapted for life living among coral rubble and in rocky crevasses, eels' skin emits a protective mucus to safeguard their thick, scaleless skin from scratches. Look closely at the tubed nares (nostrils), which help morays with their excellent sense of smell. The signature open jaw smile of moray eels helps them manually flush a steady flow of oxygenated water over their gills to breathe. One of the community priorities integrated into the Mattingan expedition is exploring the connections between deep-sea habitats and bottomfish habitats along the slopes of the Mariana volcanic arc. 

The Mattingan: Mariana Arc Volcanic Exploration (NA171) expedition is exploring deep-sea areas identified by the local management and science community, including sites with signatures of active volcanism, abyssal plain habitats, and areas in and around the Monument where new data can support resource management priorities. This expedition is supported by NOAA Ocean Exploration, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and the US Geological Survey via the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute.