Surprisingly, little is known about basic life history of the largest moray eel species in the Caribbean region, the green moray eel (Gymnothorax funebris). Sixteen eels were captured from the mangrove fringe in multiple bays on St. Croix, USVI, implanted with coded acoustic transmitters, and their movements were tracked for up to 11 months using an array of 37 stationary acoustic receivers. They exhibited high site fidelity in the bays during their residence, using the same general parts of individual bays and did not switch bays except for one individual. There was no relationship between eel size (mean TL = 83 cm, range = 54–126 cm) and home range size (mean area of 95% KUD = 5.8 ha ± 0.7 SE). Most individuals were more frequently detected at night than during the day suggesting greater nocturnal activity. Several of the larger eels (mean TL = 93 cm ± 5.9 SE) showed clear and permanent emigration tracks out of the mangrove estuary to coral reef habitats offshore. For some individuals, these habitat shifts were preceded by exploratory movements away from the eel’s typical home range the night before emigration. All final emigration events took place nocturnally, happened during a single night, and occurred during months from December to May. Mean emigration speed was 3.4 km/h. This study is the first documentation of an ontogenetic habitat shift in moray eels, as well as the first determination of home range size for this species and their site fidelity in mangrove habitats.

令人惊讶的是，人们对加勒比地区最大的海鳗物种绿色海鳗（Gymnothorax funebris ）的基本生活史知之甚少。）。从 USVI 圣克罗伊岛多个海湾的红树林边缘捕获了 16 条鳗鱼，并植入了编码声学发射器，并使用 37 个固定声学接收器阵列跟踪它们的运动长达 11 个月。他们在居住期间在隔间中表现出很高的现场保真度，使用单个隔间的相同通用部分，并且除了一个人之外没有切换隔间。鳗鱼大小（平均 TL = 83 cm，范围 = 54-126 cm）和家庭范围大小（95% KUD 的平均面积 = 5.8 ha ± 0.7 SE）之间没有关系。大多数人在夜间比白天更频繁地被发现，这表明夜间活动更大。一些较大的鳗鱼（平均 TL = 93 cm ± 5.9 SE）显示出从红树林河口到近海珊瑚礁栖息地的清晰和永久的迁徙轨迹。对于某些人来说，在这些栖息地转变之前，鳗鱼在迁徙前一天晚上进行了远离典型栖息地的探索性运动。所有最后的移民事件都在夜间发生，发生在一个晚上，并发生在从 12 月到 5 月的几个月里。平均移民速度为 3.4 公里/小时。这项研究首次记录了海鳗个体发生栖息地变化，以及首次确定该物种的栖息地大小及其在红树林栖息地中的位置保真度。