moray eel Muraena helena, a formidable eel which reaches a considerable size (maximum length 150 cm/60"), presents a mottled appearance of varying coloration (e.g. whitish on brown), and lives in rocky crevices in the Mediterranean. It emerges at night to seek its prey, to attack which it is equipped with notably sharp and dangerous teeth. It has a reputation for cunning; Euzière (1961) believed that ‘the moray likes to live near an octopus, of which when other food fails he will eat a tentacle, knowing that it will grow again’. This practice resembles the cut-and-come-again technique which human beings practise with some green salad plants.
