| Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007 | |||||||||||
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    So I was listening to this piece about how moray eels eat and the scientist says: "their oral jaws" and I'm like "Their oral jaws? What as opposed to their nasal jaws?" I'm thinking it's just someone a little nervous interviewing and being a little hyper-technical. But NO. Turns out "oral jaws" is in contrast to "pharyngeal jaws" -- the eels bite with the oral, then with the pharyngeal; release the oral, pull back with the pharyngeal; bite with the pharyngeal, release the oral and repeat thereby drawing the unwary cephalopod (or other big fish) into their long skinny bodies. How is it animals have more than one set of jaws and I don't know this? Hmm... maybe cause I only did Bio 10... Nonetheless, pretty shocking information for so early in the morning... | |||||||||||
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This reminds of how I once bitten by an African clawed frog (Xenopus)... I was sticking my finger in its tank and pretending my finger was a worm. I shouldn't have been surprised when I was bitten, nevertheless, it was with some astonishment that I suddenly raised the dripping frog, the size of my fist, right out of the tank with him hanging doggedly to my finger - clasped tightly by a bony sharp-ish ridge at the very back of his throat. I wonder now if those weren't his pharyngeal jaws? (Reply to this) (Thread) Maybe... ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} petra_nef would probably know... She had a "dreaded Esquarzo" (not sure if that's spelled right) for a long time. Before she knew you guys? No... couldn't have been because I think it was there when I moved in. Went by "Xippy". From South America.Anyway what a horror he was... One time I had to use a spoon to pry him off of Pam's finger. They're know to eat digits (hence the "dreaded"). | |||||||||||
