the.com/moray
An eel with a second jaw hiding in its throat, just in case the first one wasn't enough.
means A large, often fearsome-looking eel that lurks in reef crevices and bites hard when provoked, found in warm and tropical seas worldwide.
from Moray traces back through French and Latin 'muraena' to Greek 'muraina,' an old word for a kind of sea-eel or lamprey. The Greek term itself may come from a pre-Greek Mediterranean source — fishing peoples naming a fish long before grammarians got hold of it. The 'second jaw' isn't etymology, though — that's real anatomy: a hidden pharyngeal jaw that shoots forward to drag prey down the throat, discovered by biologists only in the 2000s.
- backup jaw
- pharyngeal jaws launch forward to grab prey
- bad eyesight
- hunts mainly by smell, not sight
- mucus coat
- slimy skin replaces missing scales entirely
- gaping mouth
- constant mouth-opening is breathing, not aggression