Moray eel
Muraenidae
Not Kosher
Description
Moray eel isn't recommended as food because of toxin buildup. In one cited case, 57 people were poisoned after eating a cooked yellow-edged moray.
Moray eels live worldwide, mostly in tropical and subtropical waters. They shelter in dead reef patches and coral rubble from shallow nearshore areas down through deep benthic and mid-water zones, with a few freshwater species.
Also known as
- Moray
- Green moray
- Spotted moray
Moray eel in foreign languages
| Scientific | Muraenidae |
| Hebrew | מורניים |
| Arabic | شيقات |
| Spanish | murénidos |
| Portuguese | Moreia |
| French | Murènes |
| German | Muränen |
| Greek | Μυραινίδες |
| Russian | Муреновые |
| Chinese | 鯙科 |
| Japanese | ウツボ科 |
| Korean | 곰치과 |
| Vietnamese | Họ Cá lịch biển |
| Thai | วงศ์ปลาไหลมอเรย์ |
| Indonesian | Armang |
Warnings & Kosher Issues
- Like other eels, it has scaleless skin and lacks the removable scales kosher law requires, so it is not kosher.
- Large species like the giant and yellow-edged moray build up ciguatoxins and can cause ciguatera poisoning, with the toxin concentrating in the liver.