Friday, June 2, 2000

Ceremony brings closure for Minefield Maintenance unit

After 32 years of carefully maintaining U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay’s minefields, the Marine Barracks Minefield Maintenance (MFM) section officially deactivated May 25 at ceremony that honored the 13 Marines who lost their lives in GTMO’s minefields.

“The (MFM) section has gone through numerous changes, often after the loss of a section member’s life,” said MFM Chief GySgt Robert Archiable. “Every time a Marine died in the minefield, a change in the SOP was made. Did the changes make our job any safer or was it cold reality that steadies the hand and sharpens the eyes when removing a live mine from 6 feet of grass? I don’t think we’ll every really know, I just know that the change is forever.”

Guantanamo Bay holds Memorial Day ceremonies

Creature feature: Moray
eels sighted in GTMO waters

Ecological assessments conducted for GTMO have resulted in the identification of 93 different species of fish in local waters, occurring in a variety of marine habitats. One of the common inhabitants of GTMO’s marine environment is the green moray eel (Gymnothorax funebris).

Marine habitats used by the moray eel include both the green waters of the bay and the blue waters of the Caribbean Sea. Coral reefs provide the ledges and caves that serve as the favorite dwelling places for this aquatic predator. Although frequently observed by divers during the day, the eel becomes an active and efficient hunter at night. This efficiency is attributable to the eel’s keen sense of smell, which compensates for its poor eyesight. Once the daylight fades, the eel uses this sense of smell to locate unsuspecting reef fish ranging from damselfish and cardinalfish to the octopus. In fact, the eel and octopus frequently encounter each other because they both tend to occupy the same niches or homes on the reef. Unfortunately for the octopus, the eel usually prevails, consuming the octopus whole or eating the larger ones tentacle by tentacle.

The 100 species of eels identified by scientists range in size from two to ten feet. Fifteen of these inhabit the waters of the western Atlantic and seven of these are commonly to occasionally seen by divers in the Caribbean. In addition to the green moray eel, these species include the spotted moray, goldentail moray, purplemouth moray, viper moray, chestnut moray and the chain moray. The green moray, however, remains the most common and largest moray eel found in the Atlantic Ocean as well as our local waters. In spite of its name, the green moray really isn’t green at all. Its skin is actually dark blue but yellow mucus that covers the animal gives it a green appearance.

Moray eels have a thick, muscular, snake-like body that lacks scales. A layer of mucus covers their bodies, protecting them from parasites and germs. They also lack pectoral (side) and ventral fins (below the body) that typify most fish species. Instead, they have one long dorsal fin that begins behind the head, curves around and connects with a short tail fin. This gives them a strong resemblance to snakes. Many eels also exhibit beautiful color patterns, designed to help camouflage them in the reef. In many species, this camouflage even extends to the inside of the mouth. This is because the animals keep their mouths open most of the time, thereby requiring the additional concealment from unsuspecting prey. This open-mouthed behavior, while appearing menacing, is actually tied to the animal’s respiration. They must continually open and close their mouths to move water across their gills. With mouths open, the moray eel’s teeth are easily seen. These teeth typically curve backwards and some species like the green moray have an additional row of teeth located on the roof of the mouth. Other species, such as the chain moray, have flat teeth designed for crushing sea urchins and other shelled animals. Cleaner shrimp often venture into the gaping mouth of the moray to clean the animal’s numerous teeth.

Eels are fascinating and important reef inhabitants. As such, they may not be harvested from local waters. Conservation begins with you.

Wildlife notes: numerous manatee have been seen off of Hicacal Beach, large manta rays have been seen at the mouth of the bay and in the vicinity of the Kittery Beach dive ladder, a large spotted eagle ray was seen in the LCN cove and a small whale (species unknown) was recently seen out-of-bounds. If you would like to report a unique wildlife sighting, please contact PWD Environmental at 4662, Ext. 321.

Meet our Commander,
U.S. Naval Base,
Captain
Robert A. Buehn

Meet our Chief Staff Officer,
CDR Jack H.
Van Zandt

Meet our Command Master Chief,
PCCM(SW) Lloyd E. Smethers



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