A New Moray Eel Has Been Discovered And Named After The Greek God Of The Underworld
A moray eel new to science has been discovered in the muddy river mouths of the Central Indo-Pacific. It is an expert at burrowing, and its dark brown color allows it to blend seamlessly with its environment.
Its scientific name is Uropterygius hades, after the Greek god of the underworld. The name was inspired by the actor Ralph Fiennes’ portrayal of Hades in the film Clash of the Titans.
Hades’ moray eel can be found in estuaries across southern Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, southern Java, and Fiji. Only one moray species out of a total of roughly 230 has been confirmed to live most of its life in freshwater.
Most other moray eels tend to stay in saltwater environments and are usually brightly colored. Very few can tolerate the lower salinity of estuarine habitats like river mouths. That makes U. hades quite rare due to its ability to adapt to a mixed salt and fresh water environment.
“Uropterygius hades sp. nov. represents a rare species of moray eel that inhabits turbid estuarine environments, preferring soft, muddy substrates and burrowing and hiding among rocks or in fallen mangrove leaves,” wrote the authors of the study.
The new eel was discovered by accident. Three researchers from National Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan, Western Philippines University, and Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History and Human History in Japan were exploring a cave along the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River in the Philippines to record the aquatic animals in the area.
Most of all, they hoped to encounter the bean-eyed snake moray, Uropterygius cyamommatus. Its bean-shaped eyes made it well-suited to cave life. Although they did not spot any bean-eyed snake morays, they did not come away empty-handed.
Instead, they stumbled upon a slender moray eel that was dark in color. The team captured some specimens and performed DNA tests to determine how their genes differed from other known moray eels.
When the team placed an eel in a tank, they saw that it burrowed its tail first. This behavior is highly unusual for a moray eel.
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The eels also had small eyes that were thought to be an adaptation to low-light conditions. They appeared to be sensitive to light and tried to hide when it was exposed to any kind of illumination.
Additionally, they had a reduced number of sensory pores on their heads, which likely helps avoid clogging in muddy environments.
The combination of the eel’s tail-first digging and unique sensory adaptations suggests that it relies on chemoreception—senses of smell and taste—to detect changes in chemicals in its environment.
It allows the eel to remain burrowed in the mud while still being able to find prey and stay away from predators.
The details of the study were published in ZooKeys.
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