Real-life "Alien" jaws - Darien Satterfield
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TEDEd Animation
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After stalking a cuttlefish, a moray eel finally pounces. As the eel snags the mollusk in its teeth, its prey struggles to escape. But before it can wiggle away, a second set of teeth lunge from the eel’s throat. This adaptation is called a pharyngeal jaw, and is one of the most common adaptations under the sea. Darien Satterfield shares how this incredible skeletal mechanism works.
Pharyngeal jaws are found in fish but not in most other animals. What is unique about fish that make the pharyngeal jaws so helpful in feeding?
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Meet The Creators
- Educator Darien Satterfield
- Director Zack Williams
- Narrator Addison Anderson
- Music Maxwell Sorensen
- Sound Designer Maxwell Sorensen
- Director of Production Gerta Xhelo
- Editorial Director Alex Rosenthal
- Producer Bethany Cutmore-Scott
- Editorial Producer Dan Kwartler
- Script Editor Alex Gendler
- Fact-Checker Eden Girma
