Bellefontaine

The moray eel, and what its open mouth really means

Town : Bellefontaine

Bellefontaine is number 26 in the register of Martinique sites. It is the immediate neighbour of Fond Boucher, for which we have a page: the Fond Boucher beach itself lies between Case-Pilote and Bellefontaine.

This is the northern Caribbean coast, the one with dark volcanic sand and drop-offs. It is not the West Indian postcard, and that is exactly why divers rate this stretch.

Why a moray opens and closes its mouth

It is the most misread gesture in Caribbean wildlife. A moray facing you with its mouth open is not threatening anything. It is breathing.

It has only small gill openings, and not the pumping arrangement other fish rely on. To move water over its gills it has to open and close its mouth continuously, all its life. What you take for aggression is respiration.

What is dangerous, and what is not

A moray does not chase anyone and does not leave its hole to attack you. Accidents nearly always have the same cause: a hand pushed into a crevice without looking, or a diver feeding it and getting bitten along with the fish.

Its bite is deep and infects easily. The rule fits in one line: look, keep your fingers out, feed nothing.

What level you need here