She will coil around the eggs and shape them into a sphere about the size of a grapefruit. Females become mature at 7 years and can lay up to 10,000 eggs at a time. Reproduction: Males and females pair for life (like penguins, but I would rather be a cool wolf eel). Juveniles tend to be an orange-y color with a yellow stripe along the fin. Males tend to have a lighter, more bulbous head than females. Females tend to have a slightly darker, smoother head than males. Has large pectoral fins (unlike moray eels who lack pectoral fins), no pelvic fins, and very long dorsal and anal fins. ![]() Juveniles eat small fish.ĭescription: Long, tapering body (eel-like) with large black ocellated spots (dark spots with a lighter ring around them, makes it look like an eye) on body and fins. They can be found up to 700 feet deep.ĭiet: Clams, snails, crabs, and urchins (in addition to canines, these eels have flat molars for crushing these heavily defended prey items). Range: Sea of Japan and Aleutian Islands to Southern California ![]() Scientific Name: Anarrhichthys ocellatus ( Anarhichas is an ancient name for a related species, ichthys means fish, and ocellatus means eye-like spots. I find wolf eels pretty interesting and I thought I would do a critter spotlight on them (especially since this was a momentous occasion, my first wolf eel spotting at Monterey). It was pretty long (about 2 feet) and it was hanging out in a clump of reddish algae next to the pipe (we were on our way to the metridium fields). ![]() When I got home and was able to consult my Fish ID books, it turns out that it was a juvenile wolf eel. It looked a little bit like a wolf eel with its big, round head, pectoral fins, and spots, but I had never seen an orange one. It was a cool eel-like creature that was an orange-y-red color with spots along its back. Just the other day a friend and I went diving at San Carlos Beach AKA The Breakwater and we stumbled upon the little guy pictured above.
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