(haipo) - There are countless sea stories about marine animals, some of which evoke in us an innate fear or a fear that stems from fictitious stories with no basis in reality. This time it is a Mediterranean moray eel, which although looks threatening in its external form: in its breath it reveals threatening teeth, its shape resembles a slippery snake. Its presence on the beaches of Haifa indicates a positive direction in the state of the sea.
This week (23-28.7.23) while free diving, a large Mediterranean moraine was observed among the large rocks in the eastern breakwater of the "Bat Galim" neighborhood in Haifa. Later, another moraine was discovered in front of the new boardwalk, but this one was found dead for reasons unknown to me.
Marine life is returning to the Bat Galim area
This Mediterranean moraine, known as "Bat Jupiter", was common years ago in the area of "Bat Galim" and "Shikmona", but for various reasons their number has greatly decreased. The fact that two were observed on the same day, indicates that life is slowly returning to the Bat Galim area.
Morena Mediterranean: Who are you?
This marine creature has a double jaw system for perfect predation. It lives in crevices and crevices in a rocky environment, usually at a depth of 5-50 meters, but can also be found at a greater depth than that. Therefore, most of the time we will only see his head peeking out of the crevices. The moray can reach a length of about one and a half meters, while the average is about 80 cm.
Beware of her bite
The moray eel is considered a curious and territorial creature around its habitat. When he is disturbed, he can be aggressive and his bite is strong, as you can imagine from the sight of his backward curved teeth. There are also various testimonies in the world about bites that ended in serious damage, for example in Thailand and the Philippines. Its meat is considered delicious to eat and in ancient times it was used to be eaten according to an ancient mosaic, but it is not kosher.
good news
The very return of the Morena to Bat Galim is extremely encouraging and bodes well. One of the reasons for the return of so many animals is the fact that a huge amount of molluscs and crustaceans that feed the food web in the sea are on the sandy sediment this year compared to previous years.
Well done my friend Motty Mendelssohn. Have a good week everyone.
Cheers to you my friend Motty Mendelssohn.
There are sometimes disturbing freediving fishing standing under the rock like a guard
This fish is edible but must be cooked well because it has poisonous blood!
Hi Shraga
Very true, even now there are in Palmahim, in the distant seconds in front of Tira.
But their number decreased at the same time as the general decline in fishing.
And seeing a large living and breathing detail is gratifying.
25 years ago, I would see morons in every dive, even freediving in the Palmachim beaches, it was very common then... today I don't know anymore.
True.. there is a lot and there always have been...
I've been diving all my life and there's always a lot of morons in Bat Galim, there's never been a shortage... I don't know what you're talking about...
True.. there is a lot and there always have been...
I was privileged to see these in my childhood at Atlit beach.
It's wonderful and great that nature is returning to the area and the marine creatures of the past are multiplying!
The process of fish culture and the types of molluscs and crabs returning to the underwater landscape at Bat Galim is amazing. There is no doubt that protecting the sea from pollution and the fishing restrictions in particular make a huge difference in the sea.
Very happy! Unfortunately I haven't had the chance to meet one yet, but God forbid...!
Thanks Moti, very interesting.
This moraine is called in the language of the fishermen in the north
"Zarumbai" she would be caught in large quantities using the sherrack method and would disturb the fisherman a lot, to get rid of her we would hit her on the side of the boat