Specifically, researchers discovered that after being swallowed whole by the goby fish Odontobutis obscura, baby Japanese eels (Anguilla japonica) wriggled out of the stomach through the digestive tract and swam through the fish's gills, escaping.
Researchers used X-ray video to capture the eel's daring escape, describing their findings in a study published earlier this week in the journal Current Biology.
After being swallowed alive, a Japanese eel escapes a goby through the predator's gills. Photo: Yuha Hasegawa
"Before recording the first X-ray footage, we never thought that eels could escape the stomach of a predatory fish," said Yuha Hasegawa, lead author of the study at Nagasaki University in Japan.
"We were absolutely amazed to see the eel desperately escape the predator's stomach, then swim up to the fish's gills."
To escape the goby's intestines, the eel will insert its tail into the fish's esophagus and turn upside down. To escape the stomach, the eel will stick its tail out of the fish's gills and wiggle around, dragging the rest of its body along. On average, it takes about three and a half minutes for the eel to escape after being swallowed.
“The X-ray footage of the eels swimming in circles in the fish’s stomach to find their way out is particularly impressive, and shows that for some prey, the fight for survival isn’t over even after being eaten,” said ichthyologist Kory Evans, associate professor of biological sciences at Rice University in Houston. “It’s really inspiring.”
While this escape behavior has so far only been documented in juvenile Japanese eels, the study authors say larger, more muscular eels, which are more tolerant of the acidic, oxygen-poor environment in their stomachs, may still have a survival rate after being swallowed, but more research is needed to know for sure.
Ngoc Anh (according to CNN)
Source: https://www.congluan.vn/phat-hien-loai-vat-van-co-the-song-song-sot-va-tron-thoat-sau-khi-bi-an-thit-post312378.html
Comment (0)