Human impacts leave reefs short on sharks and long on moray eels
A new study found that moray eels are more abundant on reefs where sharks are absent due to human pressures.
The paper hypothesizes that moray eels might be benefiting from a reduction in predators and competition for food, although this hasn’t been proven.
The authors say a lot more research is needed to assess the relationship between sharks and moray eels, and to understand the ecological role moray eels play in the marine environment.
When Demian Chapman and his colleague first started setting up underwater cameras on reefs in 2015, the aim was to capture a lot of shark video. But sometimes they got moray eels instead. Particularly at reefs where sharks were no longer present.