Gymnothorax tile
Encyclopedia
Gymnothorax tile is a moray eel
Moray eel
Moray eels are cosmopolitan eels of the family Muraenidae. The approximately 200 species in 15 genera are almost exclusively marine, but several species are regularly seen in brackish water and a few, for example the freshwater moray can sometimes be found in freshwater...

 found in the western Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 and Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

s. It was first named by Hamilton in 1822, and is commonly known as the freshwater moray, or the Indian mud moray. Gymnothorax tile lives in marine conditions but travels to freshwater for breeding and spawning. G. tile is said to reach a length of about 24 inch (0.6096 m) long. These eels can live up to 30 years. G. tile is characterized by a black body with orange and white speckles covering the length of their body. Gymnothorax tile, like any other eel, possesses a second set of jaws, called the pharyngeal jaws, to swallow their prey. This eel also possesses terrible eyesight, and instead relies upon a keen sense of smell as well as vibrations in the water to detect prey or approaching threats. Gymnothorax tile is for the most part a scavenger who eats dead fish, krill
Krill
Krill is the common name given to the order Euphausiacea of shrimp-like marine crustaceans. Also known as euphausiids, these small invertebrates are found in all oceans of the world...

, shrimp
Shrimp
Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important...

, and other such foods. Due to its poor eyesight, G. tile does not hunt on a normal basis, but will resort to hunting if there is no other option.
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