What fish family contains the moray eels?

The fish family that contains the moray eels is Muraenidae. Morays are marine eels in the order Anguilliformes, and the family includes roughly 200 species in about 16 genera.

Most morays live in tropical and temperate seas, especially around coral reefs, rocky shores, and reef crevices. A few tolerate brackish or freshwater conditions, but this is unusual; the family is overwhelmingly marine. The name “moray” ultimately traces through Portuguese moreia to the Latin and Greek names for the Mediterranean moray.

Morays are commonly mistaken for conger eels, snake eels, or freshwater eels because all have elongated bodies. Their anatomy is distinctive: morays lack obvious pectoral and pelvic fins, and they possess a second set of jaws in the throat called pharyngeal jaws. These jaws move forward to seize prey and pull it down, an adaptation famously unlike ordinary eel feeding.