Yellow-Edged Moray: Speckled, Large, and Gold-Trimmed

The yellow-edged moray is a big, handsome eel — mottled brown and yellow with a fine golden edge running along its fins. Like all morays it spends the day framed in a crevice, watching the reef. Here's how to spot one snorkeling near Jacó, plus five fun facts.

Yellow-Edged Moray · Gymnothorax flavimarginatus

How to spot the yellow-edged moray near Jacó

Look into reef holes and ledges for a large eel head mottled in brown and gold, with a telltale yellow-green rim along the edge of its fins. The yellow-edged moray is one of the bigger local morays. As always, enjoy the view and keep hands well clear of any reef hole.

5 fun facts about the yellow-edged moray

• Golden fin trim. A thin yellow-green edge along its fins — most visible toward the tail — gives this large moray its name.
• A big, wide-ranging eel. It can top four feet and lives across the Indian and Pacific Oceans, including our Eastern Pacific waters.
• Hidden throat jaws. Like its relatives, it has a second set of jaws in the throat that shoot forward to grip and swallow struggling prey.
• A night prowler. By day it rests in its den; after dark it leaves to hunt fish, octopus, and crustaceans, guided by a sharp sense of smell.
• Looks fierce, acts shy. Its constant open-mouthed 'breathing' looks threatening but is just how it moves water over its gills; it keeps to itself unless cornered.

The yellow-edged moray is just one of many characters down there. See the whole cast in our Snorkel Jaco fish directory, or read real guest photos and reviews on the Snorkel Jaco reviews.