HLF

Caught this at Punggol. It swallowed the hook and a few people told me its edible. Brought it home 10hrs later and its still alive. The guilt is eating at me

It doesn't quite look like the common Estuarine Morey Eel, do you have another body shot? Eels can be pretty hardy, you could give it a good smash on their head if you intend to keep them for consumption. It probably can't survive if you're unable to extract the hook anyway, so don't feel too bad.

That's right, Its yellow and seems more firm. People told me its a moray eel but they're normally grey. This eel actually dug into the sand and entirely submerged under it when i put it in the water. I thought of using it as bait for surfcasting but i was advised otherwise. Here is the full body shot

Its body doesn't seem to have any pattern on it or perhaps faded (I can't quite make it out in the picture). It could be a large Estuarine Moray adult, they lose the tiny spotty pattern as they age.

Does the Estuarine Moray also change color? The regular ones i get are normally gray. Also, is it edible? I've gotten mixed answers. People who say that it is advertise it as tonic

I'm not sure if it can change colours to blend into the environment but an Estuarine Moray is generally greyish or brownish with speckles like in the picture below. Those speckles can fade with age though I've not seen many large ones around.


If the body is plain brown, it could be a Brown moray eel (Uropterygius concolor)

Edit: The Estuarine and Brown Moray are edible but not all species of Moray are. So if you're not sure of its identification, it's best to release the eel back. I've not heard of Morays as tonics though.

Thanks peace, that was very helpful