Battle Royale
Stonefish are recognised as one of the most deadly fish in the sea, so videographer Tom Osborn couldn’t believe it when he saw one being attacked by a giant moray. This amazing sequence of pictures is believed to be the first time this behaviour has been captured on film.
Text and video stills by Tom Osborn
I am a videographer for the prestigious Camel Dive Club and Hotel (www.cameldive.com) in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh. This incredible event took place during a dive in the Ras Mohammed National Park while I was filming a dive being guided by friend and colleague Claudio Garombo.
With the eyes of a hawk he spotted the initial strike as the moray clamped on to the unlucky stonefish. I began to film as this huge moray eel proceeded to drag the stonefish through the reef, locked tightly in its jaws, seemingly oblivious to the camera or any of us that were watching. The giant moray coiled itself around the stonefish.
One second the eel was a few metres long and the next it had wrapped itself up into a ball so tight you could fit it in your hands. We could actually hear bones snapping from the sheer strength of the boa constrictor-type behaviour. To crush the life out of a stonefish in this way is no easy feat. No matter how much or how strong the eel squeezed, the stonefish remained the same and still alive.
See the battle sequence in full
The moray then began to smash the stonefish head first into the reef. Whether this was intentional or because the poorly sighted moray could not see over the top of his super-size meal, I am not sure. Either reason, the stonefish kept on breathing, maintaining an air of camouflaged dignity.
Eventually, frustrated, the moray let go. The stonefish lay upside down on the coral, still breathing but with no chance of escape, going through a spectrum of hallucinogenic costume changes from dark brown to a cerise pink. The moray breathed heavily, exhausted from trying to eat this huge delight, staring at the size of the stonefish and possibly having second thoughts. The reality of devouring bite-size chunks from a stone was proving to be impossible.
The eel was to give up, or to swallow the stonefish whole. This eel was a stubborn one and although the stonefish was far larger than the eel’s mouth could stretch to, it would not give up. The moray started again bashing the stonefish against the reef, trying to wash it down with some fire coral, breaking anything in its way. It needed help.
So the moray, stonefish in jaws, swam headfirst at the reef. The force from the reef and the moray swimming against it pushed and squeezed the stonefish further into its mouth and eventually, it was gone. The stonefish had finally been swallowed. Alive!
Nobody ever saw what became of the moray eel. Perhaps he took a post-meal nap; perhaps the fatal toxins gave him a nasty case of food poisoning and it was death on a full stomach; or perhaps he just went about his daily business slightly heavier and more lethargic than usual, looking for dessert!
On editing, it seemed appropriate only for a chaotic drum-and-bass track to accompany the carnage and beauty of the natural world below. As far as my research has shown, this behaviour has not been captured on film before and I have not filmed any aquatic moment quite like it since.
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