This Eel Has a Second Set of Jaws Inside Its Throat

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]This eel has a second set of jaws hidden inside its throat, [music] and they fire forward into its mouth to grab prey.

[00:00:07]This is the snowflake moray eel.

[00:00:10]Most fish catch prey by snapping their mouths open. [music] That suction pulls the target straight in.

[00:00:16]But the snowflake moray lives in tight reef crevices >> [music] >> where that suction trick doesn't work.

[00:00:22]So it evolved something far more unsettling.

[00:00:26]Inside its throat sits a second complete set of jaws called pharyngeal [music] jaws.

[00:00:31]The moment the eel bites prey with its front teeth, those inner jaws rocket forward into its mouth, [music] clamp on, and physically drag the food backward down the throat.

[00:00:41]Like a mechanical grappling hook inside a living animal.

[00:00:46]Scientists only confirmed this [music] in 2007, and it made headlines worldwide because moray eels are the only vertebrates on Earth known to use a second set of jaws this way to actively transport food.

[00:00:58]Every other vertebrate swallows using muscles [music] and gravity.