Cleaners and Crevices: teacher key

Moray Eels, grade 5 edition, written for 5th grade. A moray eel lives in cracks of the reef, eats without suction, gets cleaned by shrimp and begins life as a see-through larva.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What does a moray use instead of strong suction to eat?
   • A long tail
   • A second set of jaws in its throat and a knot in its body (answer)
   • A shell
2. What cleans a California moray's skin?
   • Sea stars
   • Sand
   • Red rock shrimp (answer)
3. What is a baby moray called?
   • A leptocephalus (answer)
   • A pup
   • A fry
4. Which moray can weigh up to 29 kilograms, as of November 2026?
   • The redface eel
   • The green moray (answer)
   • The longtail moray
5. What is a larva?
   • A kind of rock
   • A fin
   • A young form of an animal (answer)

Words

• larva: young form
• leptocephalus: moray larva
• suction: pulling force
• crevice: narrow crack