Alien vs. Predator, or One in the Same?
Dr. Rita Mehta from the University of California has made a recent discovery about the feeding habits of moray eels. Morays grow to about 10 feet long and have no fins. They have snake-like bodies and are a top predator. Dr. Mehta was interested in their feeding habits because they prey on large fish instead of smaller ones. Morays are classified as ray finned fish, but unlike other members of this category, they do not use a suction mechanism to catch their prey. Traditionally, ray finned fish will use suction, through negative water pressure from expanding their mouth cavity, to catch their prey.
Through filming the moray eels while feeding on squid, Dr. Mehta and her team discovered that the morays feed in a completely different manner. The eels first grab the prey with the teeth on their front jaws, and then, a second set of jaws, the pharyngeal jaws, spring forward into the mouth and clamp down on the prey. These jaws then drag the food down the eel's throat. Upon seeing this action, one immediately thinks of the movie Alien.
After documenting the feeding mechanism, Dr. Mehta infers that this is why the morays are such good predators. When using the suction mechanism, larger fish are more likely to be able to escape during the influx of water, so the evolution of the morays is greatly beneficial. They can obtain prey larger than their open mouth, and use less energy.
Dr. Mehta is currently looking for other animals that feed this way, so as to determine the evolutionary process of this mechanism, but she hasn't found any yet.
I found this article in the New York Times, and the online article has a video of the eels feeding that was really awesome.
Posted by Katie Ensor (1)
* In response to the comments posted: *
The moray eel is mentioned as the only ray-finned fish that feeds via the pharyngeal jaw.
Also, Jeff Smith posted about another cool jaw mechanism, that of a dragonfly nymph. He writes "It can be shot out at pretty formidable speeds like a spring loaded arm to spear tadpoles or small fish." So, if you're looking for more cool jaws, check it out!
posted by PWH @ 2:06 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
This is awesome! I have never seen anything like that. It would be interesting to take a look at the split in the evolution of ray-finned fish. Is the Moray eel the only ran-fin to evolve the pharyngeal jaw? It makes you wonder what large fish was abundant enough to encourage the evolution of another jaw over the suction mechanism.
Posted by Courtney Huffman
The ray-finned fish have interesting methods of feeding, whether it is done by suction or by the secondary jaw action you described. I read that goldfish, tuna, salmon, and trout belong to this group of fish. What are some close relatives of this group of fish? What other prey can these moral eels feed on? Those moral eels look like they can eat a baby whale! Cool video- it will be interesting to see if there are any other species of fish that have developed a similar method of feeding.
-Mayur Patel (1)
Wowzers, this is awesome. Jawsome, even. If you want to see another neat jaw look at that of a dragonfly nymph. It can be shot out at pretty formidable speeds like a spring loaded arm to spear tadpoles or small fish.
I would've linked to a video if I had found one. Ho hum.
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