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Aggressive behaviour in moray eels versus species identity: do I oust you, or do I eat you?

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Abstract

After observing a fight between two snowflake eels in southern Taiwan, we had difficulties locating scientific information on eel–eel aggressive behaviour and looked further afield. We collected and scored 34 videos posted on social media, to provide more insight into antagonistic behaviours in eels. The videos showed 12 different species of moray eels involved in aggressive interactions, with the genus Gymnothorax contributing to ~ 71% and Echidna contributing to 24% of the observed occurrences. 82% of the videos documented antagonistic interactions between conspecifics. The fights involved “knotting”, when opponents curl around each other and shove with their bodies, and some biting. Overall, the incidence of injury and death of losers, as well as injury of winners, was higher in smaller-bodied opponents. Conspecific encounters elicited the greatest intensity of aggressive behaviour, which we interpreted as rivalry due to dominance hierarchies and territoriality. This normally included a visible resource the opponents fought over (a den, a food item, a mate). Same-species fights started after gaping mouths at each other, with individuals being roughly equal in size. Conspecific opponents were often injured, but never killed. Available videos with fights between different species included predatory attacks and defensive reactions. Except for one case, interspecific encounters often ended with one eel being killed and eaten, with the winner being a fish-eating Gymnothorax species. Pre-fight, the killer was observed displaying food searching behaviour by checking holes. Both conspecific and interspecific fights frequently incurred deep, V-shaped wounds that were not apparently life threatening. Old V-shaped scars occurred on the bodies of some eels. Such scars could be used in research further investigating aggressive behaviour in moray eels.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for advice from the local fish experts Hin-Kiu Mok and Wen-Chien Huang, National Sun Yat-Sen University. R. Ormond (Marine Conservation International, UK), S. Hamilton (Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, USA) and two unknown reviewers improved the structure and text of the manuscript with their comments. We further acknowledge the authors of the cited YouTube videos and thank them for posting their eel observations. Research of CS and JL was supported by grant MOST 110-2611-M-110-007 from the Taiwanese government.

Funding

Research of CS and JL was supported by grant MOST 110-2611-M-110-007 from the Taiwanese government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oceanography, Marine Biology, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Jia-Yi Lim & Christine Hanna Lydia Schönberg

  2. Playful Dive Club, Liuqiu, Pingtung, Taiwan

    Kang-Long Guan

  3. School of Engineering, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia

    Christine Hanna Lydia Schönberg

Authors
  1. Jia-Yi Lim
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  2. Kang-Long Guan
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  3. Christine Hanna Lydia Schönberg
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Contributions

KLG captured the video and discussed the observations; CHLS conceived the approach; JYL and CHLS wrote the publication. All the authors read and approved of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christine Hanna Lydia Schönberg.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

Our data are based on passive observations on naturally occurring fish. We did not interfere with them or change their environment.

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Responsible Editor: S. Hamilton.

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Supplementary Information

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Supplementary file1 Our video of two fighting Echidna nebulosa (snowflake eels) is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3_znhu5vBw (MP4 22117 KB)

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Lim, JY., Guan, KL. & Schönberg, C.H.L. Aggressive behaviour in moray eels versus species identity: do I oust you, or do I eat you?. Mar Biol 170, 160 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-023-04303-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-023-04303-3

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