[2] The English name, moray, dates back to the early 17th century, and is believed to be a derivative from Portuguese moréia, which itself derives from Latin mūrēna, in turn from Greek μύραινα, muraina; these are the Latin and Greek names of the Mediterranean moray.

Their eyes are rather small; morays rely mostly on their highly developed sense of smell, lying in wait to ambush prey.

They have much thicker skin and high densities of goblet cells in the epidermis that allows mucus to be produced at a higher rate than in other eel species.

Placement of their small, circular gills on their flanks, far behind the mouth, requires the moray to maintain a gape / gulping motion to facilitate respiration.

When feeding, morays launch these jaws into the mouth cavity, where they grasp prey and transport it into the throat.

[7][8][9] In addition to the presence of pharyngeal jaws, morays' mouth openings extend far back into the head, compared to fish which feed using suction.

Evolving separately multiple times within the Muraenidae family, short, rounded jaws and molar-like teeth allow durophagous eels (e.g. zebra moray and genus Echidna) to consume crustaceans, while other piscivorous genera of Muraenidae have pointed jaws and longer teeth.

[20] Reef-associated roving coral groupers (Plectropomus pessuliferus) have been observed recruiting giant morays to help them hunt.

[29] Vertebrae have been added asynchronously between the pre-tail ("precaudal") and tail ("caudal") regions, unlike other groups of eels such as Ophicthids and Congrids.

Ciguatera is characterised by neurological, gastrointestinal, and cardiovascular problems that may persist for days after eating tainted fish.

[33] In an especially remarkable instance, 57 people in the Northern Mariana Islands were poisoned after eating just the head and half of a cooked yellow-edged moray.