Pelican eels are also known as gulper eels and umbrella mouth gulpers. They are currently classified in the "true" eel order, though further research may change this. These deep sea dwelling animals have huge jaws which they use like fishing nets to capture prey. While they're able to expand their mouths and stomachs to accommodate prey large than themselves, pelican eels mostly eat crustaceans. They have tiny teeth not meant for holding onto large fish, though they do occasionally eat fish as well as cephalopods. Pelican eels also come with a photophore on the end of their long tails which they flash pink and red in order to attract prey.
Scientific Name: Eurypharynx pelecanoides
Range: tropical and temperature ocean waters around the world
Size: 20-40 inches (50-100cm)
Diet: mostly crustaceans but also other invertebrates like cephalopods and other fish
Lifespan: unknown
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NOAA Photo Library - flickr.com/photos/noaaphotoli...
Biodiversity Heritage Library - flickr.com/photos/biodivlibra...
Emoke Denes - commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... ; commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Goodparley - commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Research Credits:
australianmuseum.net.au/pelic...
www.fishbase.org/summary/4526
eol.org/pages/1014934/overview
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saccoph...
eol.org/pages/1014934/overview
www.jamesedwardhughes.com/essa...
www.seasky.org/deep-sea/gulper...
www.factzoo.com/fish/gulper-ee...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
fishesofaustralia.net.au/home...
www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/...