Monkey faced eel colors

Almost every MFE I've caught have been black.  Looking through my pictures just now, I remember catching this guy and he had some pattern on it with random orange spots.  Are they just a subspecies or do the pattern/colors distinguish sex perhaps? 

That kinda looks like a wolf eel.

Most of mine have had the dots, maybe not as bright though.  Also they do tend to be darker.  I have never caught one quite that light though.

They have so many color variations.
When I worked at Bodega Marine Lab, I just love to watch them in the fish tank.  They are so cool!

Yeah, they have awesome patterns...really are a beautiful fish IMO.

Check out the pattern on this one from yesterday that I shoot at the 3 minute mark.

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

The smaller ones are usually dark brown while the larger ones can sometimes be lighter with pronounced orange red dots. The bigger ones seem to change color depending on mood. When they are pissed off they are lighter than when they are calm. Just my observations.

Big Jim's favorite color of MFPB is golden brown, with a little char on the sides 

THe ones I catch usually turn golden brown.