While diving in the Salish Sea, between the Canadian province of British Columbia and the US state of Washington, underwater videographer John Roney came across one of the region’s most iconic creatures: wolf eels.
These enormous fish aren’t actually eels at all. “One key distinction is that wolf eels have pectoral fins behind their heads, which is characteristic of fish, not marine eels like morays,” explains the Seattle Aquarium on its website. “Put simply, they’re a just a long, skinny fish!”
These ocean giants can grow to enormous sizes. “One of the stars of the Salish Sea, wolf eels can grow to nearly eight feet long (2.4m),” says Roney on Instagram. That's longer than the average park bench.
One of the wolf eels he filmed may have been between 20 and 23 years old, according to Roney, and it was sporting an old wound.
“Known for their appetite for sea urchins, these massive fish spend a fair chunk of their time crunching down on hard spines,” he explains. “This elderly wolf eel has taken some damage to his mouth from an urchin spine. But that injury has since healed over!”
Yet, juveniles look so different from adults that they could be mistaken for an entirely different species. While mature wolf eels are grizzled and grey, young fish are bright orange with a honeycomb-like pattern across their skin.
To show the striking difference, Roney also shared a young wolf eel he had filmed a while ago, hoping that “it’s now old, grey and thriving somewhere in Nanoose Bay.”
Image and video credit: John Roney, @roneydives
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