Jaws vs Alien: the Moray eel's double jaws

[wet]

Moray eels' hidden jaws pack second bite - Yahoo! News

Has anyone seen a video of these extra jaws in action? Are they like the critter in Alien? I can't visualize it. The pic doesn't really show anything. Is it basically the same as a snake that swallows large prey?

 

[atomichaggis]

Nah... they are just like a tongue. Its just to pull their prey further down their throat. Alien is still way cooler.

 

[naiad]

Many fish have pharyngeal teeth, but I have never heard of them being used like that before. The pharyngeal bones can move a bit to chew food.

Sometimes when my fish are eating I can hear a crunching noise as they chew their food. The teeth do not grow as the fish grows and can wear out, so they must be replaced. The old teeth are sometimes found at the bottom of the pond.

They are often used to identify species, as the number and shape of teeth is different even in closely related species which look identical.

 

[DeepThought]

Here is the link to the Nature article for those of you that have access, it has some photos that don't tell much to the untrained eyes of mine:
Access to articles : Nature

This link (Access to articles : Nature) should have the video, but for some reason I can't access VIA my university's proxy. Is it working for anyone?

 

[spaghetti]

Why all that buzz? Come on, a moray eel is just a moray eel. The only problem with them is when they bite...
Mediterranean spearos catch a lot of them (we eat moray, fried or stewed) and they're considered easy game. But no embarassment to confess that two weeks ago I didn't have the balls to shoot a big one: it was too big and I felt the fear. It was a splendid target: all the head up off the hole, zero risk to shoot a bad shot. I aimed to the head as usual, but as I was pulling the trigger, the moray started tickling her jaws and this scared me for a while.
I'm quite sure the moray did not intend to scare me: she was just chewing something and didn't care at all about me. But for those 5 or 10 seconds my finger was paralyzed and it took me a while to compose myself. When I finally swallowed the fear and was ready to fire, the eel disappeared into the hole and I stood there like an idiot arguing with myself for my stupidity. Why didn't I shoot it, as the dozens I had before?
My buddy, who was there watching, asked me why I didn't shoot. I told him a lie. I told him that the trigger jammed and changed the gun to sound more credible. You're the first people I tell the true story...:head

 

[atomichaggis]

LMAO! don't look em in the eyes spaghetti

 

[wet]

I keep thinking of that guy's thumb getting popped off. Don't feed wieners or fingers to morays...

Video of moray feeding:

Behavioral Ecology Blog: The Pharyngeal Innovation of Moray Eel's

In the confines of a coral reef, pop-out alien jaws are handy, since normal fish-style suction feeding requires more space, morays thrive in tunnels. I assume that groupers which hunt with morays are suction feeders.