The pelican eel's lower jaw is about a quarter of its total body length. (Image credit: David Shale, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Traveling through the inky darkness of the “midnight zone” in the deep ocean, the pelican eel flaps its narrow, whip-like tail and long, snake-like body. It’s hard to imagine its slender form engulfing large prey—at least until the eel opens its jaw like an umbrella and unfurls its mouth pouch.
Like its namesake, the pelican eel, this eel has an elastic pouch under its lower jaw that inflates when its jaws open wide, capturing anything unfortunate enough to swim too close to the eel. With an expandable pharynx and stomach, the pelican eel is capable of consuming animals larger than itself, swallowing prey whole while filtering water through its teeth and gills.
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The pelican eel, also called the bigmouth eel, grows to about 3.3 feet (1 m) in length and has black skin that absorbs almost all light, making it virtually invisible in the dark depths of the ocean.
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