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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.