After feeding, there have been no issues with aggression towards other tank inhabitants. He’s been slightly aggressive toward some of the other inhabitants but its usually right before or right on time with his schedule that this occurs. I have been feeding him freeze-dried shrimp by hand, until satisfied regularly on a schedule and haven’t had any issues. Everything else in the tank is bigger than his head so I wasn’t to worried about them. Not a big deal, in a way i did expect it, so I wasn’t surprised when it happened. The first day i had him in there he ate a cleaner shrimp that was in the tank. From kelp greenling to rockfish, hungry ocean dwellers have no qualms about feasting on the newborn competition.I am new to the saltwater community. The unguarded youth are often swallowed up by a variety of predators as they drift along their currents. Unfortunately for the wolffish, its offspring is far easier to catch. Harbor seals in Northern California have been observed sneaking into their caves and ripping wolf eel out with abandon. Wolf eels are wise to remain undercover much of the time, but not every predator is stymied by their retreat. “They like to hide - that’s part of what they do,” said Reid. While wolf eels have hearty appetites, they aren’t the only ones - those that hunt them are just as hungry. Snatching them into their gullets, they clamp down with their jaws to destroy the shells and swallow the animals whole.
The adults, meanwhile, essentially crush their enemies in half.įlickr/Eva Funderburgh Wolf eel have an average lifespan of 25 years.Ī mature wolf eel seeks out hard-shelled invertebrates like crabs, sea urchins, and sand dollars. A young specimen has yet to grow its molars, however, and focuses primarily on catching small fish with their snaggle-toothed canines. Striking at their prey is done in the same manner that swimming is - a wolf eel coils into an S-shape to lunge forward. While the young begin their feeding as 1.6-inch larvae that consume zooplankton while drifting on currents, active hunts with their jaws and canines begin within days. It essentially curves into an S-shape to push forward across the sea. Not unlike a snake on the ground, the wolf eel uses its body to propel itself forward. It may be a vicious-looking eel, but it totally has the opposite temperament.” Threats To The Wolf Eel’s Future “Their jaws are very strong and if you got your finger in there you’d regret it. “They’ve got faces only a mother could love,” said Scott Reid of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Are Wolf Eels Dangerous?įlickr/California Department of Fish and Wildlife A wolf eel in its cave. While many people across this third of the globe might find themselves terrified by the wolf eel, these gentle giants are not what they seem. And unlike its cousins, the wolf eel slithers through a vast swathe of the Pacific, from the waters of Northern California and the Bering Sea to the Sea of Japan. However, these monsters of the deep are much friendlier than you’d ever think - and they aren’t actually eels at all.Ĭontrary to popular belief, the wolf eel ( Anarrhichthys ocellatus) belongs to the wolffish family, though this particular specimen is notably longer than its relatives.
One of the most terrifying of these is the wolf eel of the North Pacific - a remarkably ugly creature that can grow up to eight feet long and sports powerful jaws and sharp teeth. Despite its monstrous jaws and teeth, the wolf eel is actually a gentle giant that’s even known to cuddle with divers.įew beasts strike more fear into the hearts of humans than those that make their homes in the unknown darkness.
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