For the past 13 years, we have been studying a population of California moray eels (Gymnothorax mordax) on Catalina Island off the coast of southern California, where these eels are found in relatively high densities. This fascinating fish species is one of the only resident apex predator in its ecosystem. Our trapping and PIT-tagging efforts over the years have allowed us to estimate the size of the population in the coves they inhabit, and their predatory behavior. More recently, graduate students have been studying how individuals of this species settle in southern California waters when we suspect their source populations are in Mexico. Through the years we have been able to provide experiences for over 50 students to marine ecology and functional morphology field work to broaden their skill sets and to gain an understanding of what conducting research in coastal ecosystems may be like.
At UCSC, we maintain a small group of captive California morays individually in aquaria. These morays have been the subject of many behavioral studies and have allowed us to manipulate prey type and size as well as temperature to better understand how these variables may influence their predatory behaviors and prey capture success.
Published works: *undergraduate researchers who worked in the lab for 2 or more years.
*Moretto, W, *Stahl, AK, Mehta, RS. 2022. Effects of acute temperature change on California moray prey manipulation and transport behavior. Zoology 154.
Dale KE, *Hallisey R, Mehta RS. 2021. Coloration is related to habitat in Gymnothorax mordax, an elongate kelp forest predator. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 677:67-79.
*Gartner SM, and Mehta RS. 2020. Effects of diet and intraspecific scaling on the viscera of muraenid fishes. Zoology: 125752.
Mehta RS, Dale KE and Higgins BA, 2020. Marine protection induces morphological variation in the California moray, Gymnothorax mordax. Integrative and Comparative Biology. 60(2):522-34.
Higgins BA, Mehta RS. 2017. Distribution and habitat associations of the California moray (Gymnothorax mordax) within Two Harbors, Santa Catalina Island, California. Environmental Biology of Fishes. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-017-0684-0.
*Diluzio AR, Baliga VB, Higgins BA, Mehta RS. 2017. Effects of prey characteristics on the feeding behaviors of an apex marine predator, the california moray (Gymnothorax mordax). Zoology 122:80–89.
*Harrison JS, Higgins B, Mehta RS. 2017. Scaling of dentition and prey size in the california moray (gymnothorax mordax). Zoology 122:16–26.
Higgins BA, Pearson D, Mehta RS. 2017. El Niño episodes increase California moray recruits around Santa Catalina island. J Fish Biol 90:1570–1583.