When I cross paths with one of Hawaii’s many eels, I stop, watch and wait. Unprovoked, wolf eels are docile and friendly to divers. Common along the Pacific coasts of North America and Japan, wolf eels can grow to 8 feet long. Growing to 6 feet long, electric eels can produce shocks up to 500 volts.Īnother famous faker is the wolf eel, which belongs to its own family of wolf fish. The electric eel is a member of the knife fish family, freshwater fish native to South America. Of the 13 species found in Hawaii, only two are common, both endemic: the Hawaiian mustache conger and the Hawaiian garden eels.Ī couple of famous eel wannabes are the so-called electric eels and wolf eels. With the exception of one, probably a yellow-bellied sea snake, all photos have been one of the 17 snake eels that live in Hawaii waters.Ĭonger eels are less abundant. About once a month, someone sends me a picture of a sea snake they saw here. Snake eels are true eels, but these tricksters dress like snakes and swim around Hawaii’s reefs freaking out visitors. Researchers guess that moray eels flourished in Hawaii due to the lack of competition from predators. In a testimony to the hardiness and longevity of moray larvae, Hawaii’s waters host 42 species of moray eels, about one-fourth of the inshore morays in the world. The eels die after reproducing, leaving their tiny offspring to drift with the current until they find a lake or river to call home.įreshwater eels don’t live in Hawaii, but the other three major eel families are well represented on our reefs: moray, snake and conger eels. After spending six to 12 years in their freshwater environments, eels in this family turn from green to silver and head to sea, swimming up to 3,500 miles to spawn. These eels are half-freshwater, half-marine, living in lakes and rivers but spawning in the ocean. Since Latin names are, well, in Latin, I think of the first one as the hapa eel family.

The numbers of the Atlantic wolffish in US waters are rapidly being. The picture becomes clearer in looking at the world’s four main eel families. The Atlantic wolffish ( Anarhichas lupus ), also known as the seawolf, Atlantic catfish, ocean catfish, devil fish, wolf eel (the common name for its Pacific relative ), woof or sea cat, is a marine fish of the wolffish family Anarhichadidae, native to the North Atlantic Ocean. Textbooks list true eel traits but then cite so many exceptions among the 750 species in the world that knowing the criteria doesn’t help much. Just about every elongated fish in the world is called an eel, but real eels have standards. The star of Ben’s Indonesia film had to be an African conger eel because the Hawaiian conger eel, puhi uha, is endemic to Hawaii. Ben’s circumstances while filming were not ideal for cheering - he’s scuba diving - yet you can hear his whoops of joy.Īfter his extraordinary encounter with this fish in Indonesia, Ben narrowed its species possibilities to the Hawaiian mustache conger (Conger marginatus) or the longfin African conger (Conger cinereus.) He asked whether I had any insight as to which of these his eel might be. They have been found at depths up to 226 m (740 ft).Singapore reader Ben Nottle sent me a 41-second eel video, (see below) so entertaining I watched it half a dozen times. They often occupy only one den, unless they are driven out by a larger wolf eel or a large octopus. Adults live on the bottom, usually among rocks in subtidal areas. This species ranges from the Seas of Okhotsk and Japan to the Krenitzen Islands, in the Aleutian chain, and to Imperial Beach, southern California. Age at maturity occurs at 4 to 7 years, suggesting these may be long-lived fish. The maximum lifespan of a wolf eel is not known. Wolf can grow up to 240 cm (7.87 ft) in length, and 18.4 kg (40.5 lbs) in weight. Young wolf eel are often orangish with dark areas merging into stripes at the rear of the body. This species has up to 233 soft anal fin rays. Its dorsal fin is long and has flexible spines and no soft rays. This species lacks pelvic fins and has no lateral line. Larger wolf eels tend to be more mottled. It has dark round spots with pale rings along the body and fins. Color dominance tends to vary between male and female wolf eel with, the females being brown and the males being dominantly grey. The body is mostly gray to brown and sometimes greenish.

Monofilament recovery and recycling programĪ long eel-like fish (but not a ‘true’ eel) with a large, square head and stout canine teeth at the front of the mouth.

Wolf eel predators