Surprised Eel Historian, PhD: Do you have enemies? Not sure how to deal with them? Have you thought about eels? It's classical! The Roman noble Vedius Pollio kept a pool of large eels, & he threw in people who displeased him, then watched the eels tear them apart. (read to the end for a demo video). 1/4 🗃️🧪

Do you have enemies? Not sure how to deal with them? Have you thought about eels? It's classical! The Roman noble Vedius Pollio kept a pool of large eels, & he threw in people who displeased him, then watched the eels tear them apart. (read to the end for a demo video). 1/4 🗃️🧪

Now...there's some disagreement about the kind of fish Pollio kept. The latin word is murenae, which can mean lamprey, eel, or moray. Lamprey is the most frequent translation, 'cause they're scary looking. But they're not lethal. Eels or morays make more sense. 2/4

Morays are the best guess, honestly. 'Cause: 1. They hunt in packs along reefs 2. They can come out of the water to snatch prey on the shore 3. They have been recorded coordinating with groupers to catch prey. Plus, they have 2 sets of jaws. For better killing. 3/4

Freshwater eels don't have the teeth for tearing apart a living person (though they'd be happy to nibble on the dead). Even so... If you wonder about how a person could be so ravaged by eels, here's a video of New Zealand longfin eels eating a pizza. /fin www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6YV...

Eels eat pizzawww.youtube.com Hungry boi

But the important question is, what is the eels' position on the most hotly debated issue in pizzology: does pineapple belong on a pizza?

omg and I thought watching carp feed was horrifying! 😱

No.

Perhaps they were shrieking eels imported from Guilder! 😉

I feel like someone needs to do a study about New Zealand eels vs eels in other countries and their attraction to eating pizza. For science. But mostly in hopes for more videos of eels eating pizza.

I like how there are so many eels the pizza doesn’t land on water. I think this is the opposite of asmr.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

But that is adorable!

😬

the best thing NYT ever published (i'm sorry it's paywalled) www.nytimes.com/2021/06/22/s...

When an Eel Climbs a Ramp to Eat Squid From a Clamp, That’s a Moray (Published 2021)www.nytimes.com Moray eels can hunt on land, and footage from a recent study highlights how they accomplish this feat with a sneaky second set of jaws.

This is where the idea for the extended jaw on the Aliens of Alien (and Aliens, etc) came from, isn't it?

It’s not, actually! The moray’s mobile pharyngeal jaws were discovered some time after movie premiered

www.nytimes.com/2021/06/22/s...

When an Eel Climbs a Ramp to Eat Squid From a Clamp, That’s a Moray (Published 2021)www.nytimes.com Moray eels can hunt on land, and footage from a recent study highlights how they accomplish this feat with a sneaky second set of jaws.

Stahp.

so you're saying Ridley Scott is a prophet...

H.R. Giger designed the creature.

I was mostly kidding about influence, but I hadn't thought about when they might have discovered this! Cool! Still learning new things about eels!

Not mine, but apropos: When you look in the maw And see a pharyngeal jaw That's a moray!

This is very circumstancial, but the Latin word has survived in the Italian "murena", which indicates only the moray. Eel and lamprey both have different translations, so my money is on morays, too.

A morass of morays, you say?

:::scans replies for "That's a moray" joke:::

Can it be deduced from Pollio’s location? i.e. if he lived on the coast, morays are plausible. If inland, they’d almost have to be freshwater eels—it’s hard enough keeping large marine species with modern tech. In ancient Rome, a constant flow of fresh seawater would be the only practical way.

Hooray monday lamprey! I think they're magnificent.

On a clear sunny day you see a fish rip your flesh — that’s a moray.

I agree that for people eating purposes morays make the most sense. But I am skeptical about the technological ability to keep saltwater fish alive long enough to meet unpleasant guests at any time.

She can go fuck herself with an eel for all I care.

Doesn’t Procopius accuse Justinian of the same thing in The Secret History? Was tossing people into eel-infested pools A Thing back in the day?

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