TheEels SongfromTheMighty Booshincludes an emotive verse that goes : “ eel up inside ya , finding an entrance where they can . ” The ditty appears to apply to one coinage above all others : the snubnosed eel ( or pugnose eel , Simenchelys parasiticus ) , which has been found in all sorts of places , include the hearts of sharks .
A especially harrowing account statement of the heart - burrowing antics of snubnosed eels was published in the journalEnvironmental Biology of Fishesin 1997 . It key out the dissection of a 395 - kilogram ( 871 pound ) shortfin mako shark that was investigated in 1992 . Like some sort of grislyKinder surprise , the researcher were amazed to observe the deceased but otherwise healthy carcass of two snubnosed eel . After a picayune bit of dissection Inception , an analysis of the eels ’ stomach content revealed they had live long enough inside the mako ’s heart to ingest some profligate .
A similar reflexion was made in a 2008 study that was also published in the journalEnvironmental Biology of Fishes . In this instance , a snubnosed eel was found to have made its direction into the heart of a small - tooth sand tiger shark . They say butterflies in your stomach is a sign of boldness , anyone know what eels in your heart represent ?
Exactly how the eels made it into the shark ' hearts was n’t obvious , though some eels have been discover toburrow through the body of their attackerto attempt escape after enter the stomach still alive . This is see among snake eel , also ( fitly ) known as burrowing eel , whose mummify remains were found inside the consistency cavity of 11 different species of predatory Pisces the Fishes . These beast are characterise by a tough peak to their tail that they used to rapidly override and carve through the sea bottom . This same hind end permit them to burst out of the belly of fish that consume them , only to end up arrive puzzle elsewhere in the trunk cavity .
As part of#EelOrNoEel , a trending challenge among Fish Twitter , Alabama Museum of Natural History director and # TeamFish enthusiastJohn atomic number 15 Frielwrote of the " true eels " , “ juvenile person [ snubnosed eels ] feed on copepods and amphipod while adults appear to be scavengers , using their powerful jaws to bust away chunk of flesh from carcase . They can also be ' facultative leech ' that opportunistically enter sick and die fishes . ”
Snubnosed eels are recollect to feed in a manner comparable to cookie cutter shark , as they prick off orbitual plugs of soma and twist their physical structure at mellow speed to unwrap it off from the dead animal , as can be understand in the above Tweet .
