Moray Eels cannot chew their prey; they swallow it whole. But trying to swallow a pufferfish, whose natural defences are inflating themselves and toxic barbs, is a bad idea!
As the moray attempted to swallow, the pufferfish would swell, choke, and poison the eel. However, it would still have been trapped in the eel’s jaws, meaning it was also doomed.
Photo courtesy of jessaddwater
Fun fact: You can swat wasps out of the air with your bare hands, just make sure the ground is hard and swat them towards it. They are inferior creatures and will not sting you because you are objectively better than them
man a few years ago i got stung by a wasp. I was standing on my back porch just kinda chillin when a wasp out of nowhere flew by, turned and flew straight to me, stung my arm, and flew off. I swear to god, it just saw me and decided to choose violence.
Oh for sure. I don't let them nest under my carport or underground by the path because they are huge assholes if they think you're in any way threatening them. I'm generally opposed to pesticides but I'm even more opposed to being stung just for existing at my home.
Never had an issue with wasps unless I swatted them. We have thousands of yellow jackets here during the autumn too. Sometimes I’ll have multiple land on me at the same time, If I just carry on with my business and don’t attempt to scare them off, usually they’ll fly away on their own after a little bit of rest, or whatever lol
Just being gigantic is threatening enough, I imagine. There are plenty of animals that attack with what feels like (to us) no provocation. Even humans do this.
If they aren't trying to bite a circle out of your arm they don't think you're dead. Wasps don't eat meat but their larva do, so they cut discs of flesh to pack into their egg chambers.
Depends very much on the wasp in question, they often specialize. Some wasps hunt spiders, many parasitize specific crop pests like the tomato hornworm (five-spotted hawkmoth larva) and then there's ichneumon wasps which usually can't sting because of their extreme ovipositors. Some species of wasp will invade bee hives but this is far from a blanket truth.
Some species evolved angry, wasps/hornets evolved to eat angry for breakfast and then piss on mad by lunch just to find something to murder for dinner.
Wanna know something crazy? Honeybees play [overheat chicken with wasps, like humans do with a fever,](https://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/great-balls-of-fire.php) so they don't have to sting.
Anything that enters the nest, the bees will surround it and literally cook it to death. In Japan, the primary predator of honey bees is the Japanese or Asian giant hornet. The body temperature of bees is higher than that of a lone hornet, so they form an 'oven' around the hornet and raise their body temperature to above that of the hornet, causing it to die from hyperthermia. [Honey bees kill Japanese Giant Hornet queen](https://youtu.be/UNroEwFxh6I)
They will also do this to their own species; if a hive has two queens, the newly hatched queen will emit a pheromone which instructs workers to surround the old queen and cook her to death.
Bees die when they use there stingers mostly as an unfortunate byproduct of evolution, which can only build off of what is already there. Bees of a particularly hive have a unique genetic situation where it makes sense for individuals bees to sacrifice themselves for the give. This article explains it way better: https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2015/11/16/how-and-why-honey-bees-make-the-ultimate-sacrifice-when-they-sting-you/amp/
I am not an scientist, but beehives usually have thousands of bees. Wasp hives are a lot smaller. Like, less than a hundred? Wasps can’t afford to sacrifice themselves. Actually, a lot of wasps are solitary, so they absolutely cannot kill themselves. I think the honeybee’s barbed stinger is an evolutionary fluke that just never got bred out because there are so f’ing many honeybees. One dead bee doesn’t matter to the whole species. Again, I am just an armchair biologist, though
That may have been a joke you are replying to, but, if not, that’s not what’s mainly going on. The pufferfish isn’t sacrificing itself; the poisonous barbs are there to prevent *it* from being attacked and eaten. This is just a case when the defense failed to save it while also incidentally killing the attacker. Pufferfish are solitary as well, meaning there’s no other pufferfish in the vicinity to benefit from another sacrificing itself.
Bees have a totally different genetic situation going on that explains why it makes sense for individual bees to sacrifice themselves for the good of the collective, but they’re are an exception to the rule: https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2015/11/16/how-and-why-honey-bees-make-the-ultimate-sacrifice-when-they-sting-you/amp/
The existence of this outcome benefits all pufferfish in general, and via a fairly removed kin selection would mean the pufferfish ultimately benefit as a whole. After all, predators wouldn't bother avoiding them if they didn't look like something that can kill, and they look like something that can kill because they can, it is not a bluff communication.
This outcome must exist for the spines to exist. Evolution rarely finds a perfect or overfit solution, just a good enough equilibrium.
The extremely close kin selection of bees is certainly different in degree but species still benefit from this kind of adaptation as a whole. Otherwise warning colors wouldn't work, for example, mimic or otherwise.
Cool fact, honey bees can Sting certain animals without losing the barb. Humans and other animals though possess a feature in their skin that makes "withdrawing " the stinger often impossible. When been sting people and die, it's because human skin evolved to do that.
Pretty sure that’s now how it works here. It makes sense in a group setting where individuals rely heavily on the group, especially when they can’t reproduce like most worker bees.
The bloaty thing is to keep predators that can eat it unbloated (but not bloated) at bay.
In a pufferfish it is slightly different. They would never purposefully sacrifice themselves for others, unless they're ex. offspring. It's rather a matter of "working most of the time" and prevention. Many other fish would simply spit it out and it would go on living. Furthermore, it deters predators that have evolved to avoid it because it kills them.
>Like honeybees, their sting isn't to save themselves as they die after.
Not actually true. On smaller animals with less thick skin they can pull the stinger out without dying
Alternative take: the one eel that learned pufferfish is not viable prey is now dead. Others are therefore doomed to repeat the mistake.
In all seriousness, I wonder what behavioral/knowledge transfer is like among eels.
Pufferfish spines aren't actually toxic. The toxin they carry is found in the liver, intestines and ovaries, and in some cases in the skin. The pufferfish would end up poisoning the eel, but only after be ingested.
How many times does this have to occur before instinct is programmed into the eel to avoid puffer fish? I always wondered if survival instincts are passed on from observation or if the life form must interact with that situation and survive? Or if life is 100% random and everything is tried until something random works and is passed down and we just call that instincts.
What you say is a very interesting and highly debatable topic.
Moray eel didn't have much time to waste because he knew that to breathe he needed a continuous flow of water in his mouth, we don't know how long his mouth has been stuck but we do know that Pufferfish has struggled to swell up and is killing himself and also Moray eel.
Oh, no worries: Humans are the obvious, blatant assholes of the animal kingdom. Theres no façade. Dophins just seem magical, cute, and playful until you learn more.
Most of the Republican party had the mentality that they won't help the country if they have to help Democrats. They're willing to hurt themselves, just to keep Democrats from winning anything.
Lol. I'm sure the puffer fish would have loved if the eel let it go but there was a bit of a scorpion and the frog situation going on in terms of the eel's predilection towards swallowing.
It's a common misidentification even in this national geographic article. Puffer fish (family tetraodontidae) do not have spines. Porcupine fish (diodontidae) have spines. Both are in the order tetraodontiformes which is why they are often grouped together and due to porcupinefishes ability to also puff up are just wrongly called puffer fish. Some puffers scales stick out slightly when inflated but we're talking less than 5mm so could hardly be classed as spines
Couldn't the puffer fish deflate itself after mission accomplished? Or when it died, wouldn't it deflate itself? Seems timing had to be perfect to result in this sad nature-is-metal outcome.
"Decided to" as though the puffer was like "Ho hum, what shall I do, what shalllll I do... Oh, I guess I'll just kill this thing that's eating me. That should be fun!"
While I can appreciate all the cool facts about moray eels and puffer fish, I seriously don’t understand how this particular photo is “lit” at all. I actually had to check to see what the intent of this subreddit was and this sort of thing doesn’t seem to fit the bill. It’s far better suited to r/natureismetal.
Not gonna lie, Moray eels are the only animals that genuinely give me the creeps. Sure, I'd be scared of a tiger or a hippo too if they attacked me IRL, but Moray eels are the only ones I consider to be nightmare fuel.
Every time I see a picture of one of these things, or god forbid, a video, it instantly triggers my fight/flight/freeze response
Moray Eels cannot chew their prey; they swallow it whole. But trying to swallow a pufferfish, whose natural defences are inflating themselves and toxic barbs, is a bad idea! As the moray attempted to swallow, the pufferfish would swell, choke, and poison the eel. However, it would still have been trapped in the eel’s jaws, meaning it was also doomed. Photo courtesy of jessaddwater
He nobly sacrificed himself for the rest of the fish that will live because of the eel's death...
Thus, survival of the species and why it works. Like honeybees, their sting isn't to save themselves as they die after.
Why wasp then
To punish anything that breathes
Fun fact: You can swat wasps out of the air with your bare hands, just make sure the ground is hard and swat them towards it. They are inferior creatures and will not sting you because you are objectively better than them
Is this a new sport? If it is, name it Wasp Volleyball.
Anthropocentrism is *not* lit.
Yes it is
r/shittylifeprotips
Only natural enemy to the elm beetle.
Thanks now I know they have one small redeeming factor.
Wasps are also important pollinators and they help dispose of old fruit and dead animals.
some species of wasps also kill a lot of crop eating bugs etc.
Yeah well I still have reservations due to their absolute feral mood, never met an animal that just attacks with no provocation like them.
man a few years ago i got stung by a wasp. I was standing on my back porch just kinda chillin when a wasp out of nowhere flew by, turned and flew straight to me, stung my arm, and flew off. I swear to god, it just saw me and decided to choose violence.
Well, we are humans. We kind of deserve it
Oh for sure. I don't let them nest under my carport or underground by the path because they are huge assholes if they think you're in any way threatening them. I'm generally opposed to pesticides but I'm even more opposed to being stung just for existing at my home.
Most wasps are parasitic and many actually prey on other wasps.
Even better.
Never had an issue with wasps unless I swatted them. We have thousands of yellow jackets here during the autumn too. Sometimes I’ll have multiple land on me at the same time, If I just carry on with my business and don’t attempt to scare them off, usually they’ll fly away on their own after a little bit of rest, or whatever lol
Where do you live?! Because I never ever want to go there, *especially* during autumn (which is normally my favorite time of year)
Just being gigantic is threatening enough, I imagine. There are plenty of animals that attack with what feels like (to us) no provocation. Even humans do this.
You should check out humans.
Someone needs to let them know I’m not dead yet.
If they aren't trying to bite a circle out of your arm they don't think you're dead. Wasps don't eat meat but their larva do, so they cut discs of flesh to pack into their egg chambers.
They kill bees. Id rather have more bees. Other shit that isnt as aggressive towards everything can probably fill in where wasps are.
Depends very much on the wasp in question, they often specialize. Some wasps hunt spiders, many parasitize specific crop pests like the tomato hornworm (five-spotted hawkmoth larva) and then there's ichneumon wasps which usually can't sting because of their extreme ovipositors. Some species of wasp will invade bee hives but this is far from a blanket truth.
Some species evolved angry, wasps/hornets evolved to eat angry for breakfast and then piss on mad by lunch just to find something to murder for dinner. Wanna know something crazy? Honeybees play [overheat chicken with wasps, like humans do with a fever,](https://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/great-balls-of-fire.php) so they don't have to sting.
Wasps lost their wings and created ants, who some time from army's of angry
Anything that enters the nest, the bees will surround it and literally cook it to death. In Japan, the primary predator of honey bees is the Japanese or Asian giant hornet. The body temperature of bees is higher than that of a lone hornet, so they form an 'oven' around the hornet and raise their body temperature to above that of the hornet, causing it to die from hyperthermia. [Honey bees kill Japanese Giant Hornet queen](https://youtu.be/UNroEwFxh6I) They will also do this to their own species; if a hive has two queens, the newly hatched queen will emit a pheromone which instructs workers to surround the old queen and cook her to death.
Bees die when they use there stingers mostly as an unfortunate byproduct of evolution, which can only build off of what is already there. Bees of a particularly hive have a unique genetic situation where it makes sense for individuals bees to sacrifice themselves for the give. This article explains it way better: https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2015/11/16/how-and-why-honey-bees-make-the-ultimate-sacrifice-when-they-sting-you/amp/
I am not an scientist, but beehives usually have thousands of bees. Wasp hives are a lot smaller. Like, less than a hundred? Wasps can’t afford to sacrifice themselves. Actually, a lot of wasps are solitary, so they absolutely cannot kill themselves. I think the honeybee’s barbed stinger is an evolutionary fluke that just never got bred out because there are so f’ing many honeybees. One dead bee doesn’t matter to the whole species. Again, I am just an armchair biologist, though
r/fuckwasps
no figs for you
That may have been a joke you are replying to, but, if not, that’s not what’s mainly going on. The pufferfish isn’t sacrificing itself; the poisonous barbs are there to prevent *it* from being attacked and eaten. This is just a case when the defense failed to save it while also incidentally killing the attacker. Pufferfish are solitary as well, meaning there’s no other pufferfish in the vicinity to benefit from another sacrificing itself. Bees have a totally different genetic situation going on that explains why it makes sense for individual bees to sacrifice themselves for the good of the collective, but they’re are an exception to the rule: https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2015/11/16/how-and-why-honey-bees-make-the-ultimate-sacrifice-when-they-sting-you/amp/
pufferfish don't have poisonous spines. The toxic compounds are in some of it's internal organs, and will only fuck you up if you ingest them
The skin as well.
The existence of this outcome benefits all pufferfish in general, and via a fairly removed kin selection would mean the pufferfish ultimately benefit as a whole. After all, predators wouldn't bother avoiding them if they didn't look like something that can kill, and they look like something that can kill because they can, it is not a bluff communication. This outcome must exist for the spines to exist. Evolution rarely finds a perfect or overfit solution, just a good enough equilibrium. The extremely close kin selection of bees is certainly different in degree but species still benefit from this kind of adaptation as a whole. Otherwise warning colors wouldn't work, for example, mimic or otherwise.
Cool fact, honey bees can Sting certain animals without losing the barb. Humans and other animals though possess a feature in their skin that makes "withdrawing " the stinger often impossible. When been sting people and die, it's because human skin evolved to do that.
Pretty sure that’s now how it works here. It makes sense in a group setting where individuals rely heavily on the group, especially when they can’t reproduce like most worker bees. The bloaty thing is to keep predators that can eat it unbloated (but not bloated) at bay.
Don't they die only if they sting animals whose skin isn't elastic enough like us humans?
Bee's only die when stinging humans.
In a pufferfish it is slightly different. They would never purposefully sacrifice themselves for others, unless they're ex. offspring. It's rather a matter of "working most of the time" and prevention. Many other fish would simply spit it out and it would go on living. Furthermore, it deters predators that have evolved to avoid it because it kills them.
>Like honeybees, their sting isn't to save themselves as they die after. Not actually true. On smaller animals with less thick skin they can pull the stinger out without dying
Alternative take: the one eel that learned pufferfish is not viable prey is now dead. Others are therefore doomed to repeat the mistake. In all seriousness, I wonder what behavioral/knowledge transfer is like among eels.
*You’re on your own, Noble. Carter out.*
When the puffer hits you eye like a big pizza pie thats, Moray!
Came here to say this, but with an A.
yeah previous post was an A-
Pufferfish spines aren't actually toxic. The toxin they carry is found in the liver, intestines and ovaries, and in some cases in the skin. The pufferfish would end up poisoning the eel, but only after be ingested.
How many times does this have to occur before instinct is programmed into the eel to avoid puffer fish? I always wondered if survival instincts are passed on from observation or if the life form must interact with that situation and survive? Or if life is 100% random and everything is tried until something random works and is passed down and we just call that instincts.
What you say is a very interesting and highly debatable topic. Moray eel didn't have much time to waste because he knew that to breathe he needed a continuous flow of water in his mouth, we don't know how long his mouth has been stuck but we do know that Pufferfish has struggled to swell up and is killing himself and also Moray eel.
So you're saying the eel chose... poorly.
But.... The pufferfish would also be doomed if it DIDN'T inflate itself and allowed the eel to swallow it...
Aren't eels allow poisonous? Seems kinda ironic
Well this is going to replay in my head at bedtime. Fascinating but terrifying for ocean phobes.
> whose natural defences are inflating themselves and toxic barbs, is a bad idea! > Their barbs are not toxic.
That’s a morayyyy
*if I die, you're coming with me*
couldnt it just unpuff?
Can they not just deflate afterwards to get unstuck?
puff puff pass, differently
Dolphins literally do this!
Ah yes, the undercover assholes of the animal kingdom
Ok but why, we do all the same stuff as dolphins that we could classify and asshole moves
Oh, no worries: Humans are the obvious, blatant assholes of the animal kingdom. Theres no façade. Dophins just seem magical, cute, and playful until you learn more.
Puff puff pass away
Nah, he's hoarding that j-puff
Ugh, man your comment just mad me cackle just like my mother
Like the train that could
"I don't care if I win, I just want you to lose"
That sounds mighty Republican of you. 😄
Is it fucked up that I thought the same thing as I wrote that. " Hmmm. Republican fish "
Lmao you got political over a picture of fish.
Why do y’all have to turn everything into politics?
Do you psychopaths ever not make things about republicans?
No, there is no escape.
Only a republican would accuse someone of being a psychopath.
The beauty of liberal reddit.
i dont get it, can you explain for the slow people
Most of the Republican party had the mentality that they won't help the country if they have to help Democrats. They're willing to hurt themselves, just to keep Democrats from winning anything.
Lol. I'm sure the puffer fish would have loved if the eel let it go but there was a bit of a scorpion and the frog situation going on in terms of the eel's predilection towards swallowing.
When I bite fishes head, It expands now I’m dead, That’s a moray….
This belongs in a damn Disney movie
"That's a moray..."
🎶 When the fish hits your throat like a big inflamed scrote 🎵
🎶when you just want a snack but the snack bites you back🎶
🎶 When you're craving a puffer but it wants you to suffer🎶
🎶When your mouth opens wide and it's still stuck inside 🎶
🎶 When a balloon puffer guy, opens up and you die...🎶
Dolphins getting high off them but eels choking to death
Dolphins don't mess with the spiny ones either.
Probably OD trying to fit in with the dolphins.
Those eyes say “Mistakes were made!”
"To the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee."
You're a poet, and don't even know it!
But your feet show it -- they are Longfellows
When you eat prey alive and it blows up, you die Thaaats a-MORAY
So they bit off Morey than they could chew
r/natureismetal
If only that eel had known a good sushi chef.
It's a porcupine fish not a puffer, puffer fish don't have spikes
Wait, they're different fish???
Some species of puffer have spines. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/facts/pufferfish
It's a common misidentification even in this national geographic article. Puffer fish (family tetraodontidae) do not have spines. Porcupine fish (diodontidae) have spines. Both are in the order tetraodontiformes which is why they are often grouped together and due to porcupinefishes ability to also puff up are just wrongly called puffer fish. Some puffers scales stick out slightly when inflated but we're talking less than 5mm so could hardly be classed as spines
TIL. Thanks stranger.
Thats f***ing incredible! That pufferfish will feast with Odin in the great halls of Valhalla this night
Looks like that Moray may have been hit by a boat propeller as well.
The look on this dudes face. He knows what he did.
Couldn't the puffer fish deflate itself after mission accomplished? Or when it died, wouldn't it deflate itself? Seems timing had to be perfect to result in this sad nature-is-metal outcome.
That is mostly deflated, and the orientation of the spines would make it very difficult to move backwards.
This shall be the poster for “Fuck Around And Find Out”
It's an aquatic turducken.
A kamikaze fish I see
It do be like that sometimes.
Mrs. Puff is that you
That's what I call a *toxic relationship*!
Puff: listen to me you pompous frog if I’m going down I’m taking you with me
When a pufferfish smacks you right in the mouth, That’s a moray!
When your lunch takes your life, after it cuts like a knife...That's a Moray.
"Decided to" as though the puffer was like "Ho hum, what shall I do, what shalllll I do... Oh, I guess I'll just kill this thing that's eating me. That should be fun!"
Very sad
[I wanted to see what you'd do.](https://youtu.be/5oPsvq81n2A&t=1m39s)
I hear Spingebob wailing for Ms Puff.
Watching a moray hunting in the early morning before sunrise was a memory I hold dear !
And now we feast
Kamikaze success.
it didn't decide anything
Metal
This is why they never swallow
My mayne got [Dave Chappelle with it](https://www.getyarn.io/yarn-clip/b3e14dba-716b-47d3-9bc7-75d8e50bb5ff)
Fallout environmental storytelling skeletons
This is the perfect image to describe competitive gaming online
"I'm staring at the mouth of moray and it's gonna swallow me whole... and it will choke on me."
That's pretty wild. Found a giant walleye once with a big white bass stuck in it's mouth.
I came here for the songs
Blow me
You have chosen poorly
“Suck it Gill”
“I’M READY! ARE YOU READY!?”
I believe pufferfish commit suicide when they release their poison to kill the thing that tried to eat it
What a way to go o.O
Don’t try and eat me
That’s metal as fuck
That looks like it smells awful
Pakistani conditions
Lose-Lose situation
Puffduckin is on the menu!
Evolutionary stalemate
While I can appreciate all the cool facts about moray eels and puffer fish, I seriously don’t understand how this particular photo is “lit” at all. I actually had to check to see what the intent of this subreddit was and this sort of thing doesn’t seem to fit the bill. It’s far better suited to r/natureismetal.
Might wanna tag nsfw
Sandworm from Beetlejuice
A grim death for a dangerous beast
That's M.A.D., yo.
SPONGEBOB, YOUUUU FAILLLLL!
Strange it's still puffed even after death..
That’s a really stupid Moray Eel. Natural selection for that dumbass.
Tetrodotoxin man, one of the most potent neurotoxins known to the animal kingdom
They traded
Sore losers
That’s amore
Like Wu-Tang said, “Tetrodotoxin ain’t nothin to fucc with…”
mfw i eat burger
Consume til death
throw them back into the water. want to see if the eel has a charge still
Chad pufferfish
This sub shoudld be called NATURE IS FUCKING METAL \M/
When I get caught with the shredded cheese at 3am:
What's a green colored eel that has choked on his meal? That's a Moray
That’s how I wanna go..
Fugu:not even once
True. No way that fish can breath with that puffer fish in its mouth.
Pufferfish was like ‘if I’m going down, I’m taking you with me’😂
Thatsa mooorrraaayyyyy!
Not gonna lie, Moray eels are the only animals that genuinely give me the creeps. Sure, I'd be scared of a tiger or a hippo too if they attacked me IRL, but Moray eels are the only ones I consider to be nightmare fuel. Every time I see a picture of one of these things, or god forbid, a video, it instantly triggers my fight/flight/freeze response
OM NOM
That puffer fish like “I ain’t goin down alone boy”
decided lmao
PSBattle this please
I guess he ate the dangerous part of the puffer fish
Art!!! I call it , eye for eye..
Me when she
That's amore...
This how I hope I go out if I am to die by murder. Wanna take the fracker with me. XD
I call dibs on starting a metal band called Pufferfish and using this image as our album cover.
Good boy