2023-07-14 06:00:52
In the abyssal depths of the Pacific, researchers have made an astonishing encounter. A rare gulper eel was spotted having just wolfed down a large meal.
This gulper eel, seen at around 2100 meters depth by researchers controlling a remotely operated underwater vehicle (A submarine is a vessel capable of moving in three dimensions, under the surface of…) (ROV), has an elongated protuberance under its belly. Researchers believe that this bump is a consequence of his last meal.
Credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute
It was during the last dive of the Octopus Odyssey expedition, whose mission was to study an unusually large gathering of octopods off the west coast of Costa Rica, that the animal (An animal (from the Latin animus, spirit, or vital principle) is, according to the classical classification, a…) has been spotted. This fish (In the classical classification, fish are aquatic vertebrate animals…) snake-like, which had a conspicuous bump in the middle of its body, was regarding 2100 meters below the surface (A surface generally refers to the superficial layer of an object. The term a…) of water.
A short film of the encounter, shared on Twitter by representatives of the institute (An institute is a permanent organization created for a certain purpose. It is…) Schmidt Ocean who organized the mission, shows the eel se contorting in front of the camera (The term camera comes from the Latin: chamber, for camera. It designates a device…) before disappearing into the darkness of the depths.
The gulper eel, rarely observed in its natural environment, has the unusual ability to dislocate its jaw and inflate its throat. This amazing ability suggests the animal can ingest far larger meals than its slender body would suggest, but until this discovery no one had ever reported seeing one with a full stomach.
A short clip of the eel swimming with its stomach full.
Credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute
“This is the first time we’ve come across this animal in our years of deep-sea exploration,” the scientist said. who…) of the mission Diva Amon, a biologist (On other Wikimedia projects:) Caribbean navy present in the control room (The word control can have several meanings. It can be used as a synonym for examination, …) of the ROV upon discovery. “To see him with such a full stomach was the cherry (The cherry is the edible fruit of the cherry tree. It is, following the strawberry, the most…) on the cake”.
Experts cannot determine precisely what was in the stomach of the gulper eel. SOI representatives suggested it might be a squid or a swarm of shrimp. Gulper eels are not particularly adept at hunting. Rather, they use their bioluminescence (Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism…) to produce red light (Light is all the electromagnetic waves visible to the eye…) ( The color red responds to different definitions, depending on the chromatic system we do…) at the end of their tail which attracts their prey close enough to then be swallowed whole.
There is also evidence to suggest that these eels can use their ability in their jaws to inflate their flexible bodies with water, in order to intimidate would-be predators into thinking they are larger and more threatening than they are. they really aren’t.
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