Oh look it’s a moray eel. We have these where my family is from in Greece, they’re kind of a low-key nightmare because they make “dens” inside holes in reefs and stone piers/docks where people like to swim, only shooting out to grab prey…like maybe a foot of a passing child swimmer (they have shit vision).
Some of the bigger ones in tropical waters leave their burrows to hunt.
They’re incredibly strong and can actually survive out of water for short period of time because their skin isn’t scaled, it’s slimy, keeping them wet when taken out of the ocean.
As a kid when I’d be in Greece I’d see them in fishermen’s nets sometimes and it’s always a big deal, you can’t grab them to pull them out (too big and slippery, plus they’ll try to grab your hand) so you basically have to wait for it to die. I’ve seen fishermen try to kill them by clubbing them to death, which is brutal to watch when you’re 8. No one likes doing it, because it’s wasteful, no one eats them because local “lore” basically tells you the skin is poisonous, though apparently you can use it for leather if you cure the shit outta it.
Basically it’s a pit monster from a Conan the Barbarian story.
ifesbob 