Dude

By adapting its pharyngeal jaws into mobilized graspers, the moray doesn’t need a vacuum to get prey to the back of its throat. Instead, it eats like a snake, except without the venom and self-satisfied little tongue flicks. Snakes move their heads over their prey by “ratcheting” the left and right sides of their upper jaws, constantly maintaining a toothy grip. A moray transferring its prey from its regular teeth to the pharyngeal jaws is functionally quite similar. It’s an innovation, according to Mehta, that may have helped morays ascend the throne of the coral reef food chain.