Most fish catch their prey via suction (snapping their jaws open and creating negative pressure, thereby dragging their prey into their mouth with the rush of water). Not so with the moray eel. No, this eel is too fancy, too uppity for that. In fact, the moray eel is the only known fish to employ a second set of jaws located further down the throat that reaches out to grip its food and drag it down the esophagus. Yes, just like in Aliens.
Don't believe me? Just watch this video from my own alma mater , UC Davis. Some of you parents might begin suspecting your teenage sons of having a set of these.
Thanks for the video, Amanda.
I could listen to her talk about creating oral suction all day...
ReplyDeleteA good article with images that better depict how the second jaw actually looks / works (kind of surprised they didn't have one like it in the video):
ReplyDeletehttp://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/09/jaws_of_the_moray.php
Now I really want one as a pet. That one adaptation totally beats out even the most complicated trick you can teach a dog (unless that dog can actually speak a human language, type, or drive a vehicle. That'd be pretty cool.)
ReplyDelete