Shark Narrowly Escapes Being Eaten by Eel with Two Sets of Jaws
Transcript
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[music playing]
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NARRATOR: Moray eels
get big, with one
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species reaching 11 feet long.
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They lurk among
the reefs and hide
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in crevices, launching
snatch and grab
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attacks from the rocky layers.
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They bite with enormous
force, and almost anything
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is fair game.
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White tips and eels
co-exist on the reef.
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But divers in Indonesia witness
an extraordinary incident.
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A huge moray eel turns the table
on a lone white tip that strays
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within striking distance.
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This attack of moray eel
on a white tip reef shark
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is really fascinating.
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What makes moray
eels really efficient
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predators is the
strength, the power,
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and the design of their jaws.
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They not only have
this very large jaw,
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but it's armed with sharply
pointed teeth that are really
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well adapted, like a mouse
trap, just, you know,
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really clutch animals
within its grasp.
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MIKE HEITHAUS: The thing you
see here is that eels are
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incredibly powerful predators.
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It leaves its lair there so it
can change where it's biting
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the shark, because it's got
to get the shark head first
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if it's going to swallow it.
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Now while it's doing it
the shark almost gets away.
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But just as it's
trying to swim way,
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the eel is able to grab
it right by the head
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and then maneuver
it so that the head
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is just inside the eel's mouth.
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This is where a really
cool adaptation takes over.
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How's it going to
swallow that shark?
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It actually has a second
set of jaws in its mouth
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called the pharyngeal
jaws that sit
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toward the back of the throat.
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Those can go forward like the
alien "Aliens," grab the shark
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and pull it back
toward its throat
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so it can start to swallow it.
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NARRATOR: Despite its
size and two sets of jaws,
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this eel has bitten off
more than it can chew.