Some eels can tear large prey into pieces by tying their bodies into a knot to gain leverage against the prey. 1) The prey is grabbed, 2) the tail of the eelturns toward the body, forming a series of interlacing loops, 3) the head is pulled through the loop, 4) the prey is generally decapitated as a result and the eel can consume the remaining pieces in a similar fashion if they are too large to swallow.
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To cite this page: Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2013. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed at http://animaldiversity.org.
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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants DUE-0633095 and DRL-0628151.
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