# Is this shark with a second set of outwardly-thrust jaws real? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 7, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-shark-with-a-second-set-of-outwardly-thrust-jaws-real/643299 "2012-12-07T14:49:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-shark-with-a-second-set-of-outwardly-thrust-jaws-real/643299/1 "2012-12-07T14:49:11Z")
[![](https://i.imgur.com/9gTQU.gif) ](https://i.imgur.com/9gTQU.gif) Looks like a shark. I’ve seen videos of some other sea creature–a common snakey thing, IIRC–being studied at a lab, in slo-mo, with a second set coming out and doing the swallowing. Spooky as hell. I’ll have to try to find that. ---
**Author:** ![ducati](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-shark-with-a-second-set-of-outwardly-thrust-jaws-real/643299/2 "2012-12-07T14:55:29Z")
'tis a Goblin shark. Do not want. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-shark-with-a-second-set-of-outwardly-thrust-jaws-real/643299/3 "2012-12-07T15:01:01Z")
If you look closely, it’s not a “second set” at all, though it sure is “outwardly thrusting” alright! ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-shark-with-a-second-set-of-outwardly-thrust-jaws-real/643299/4 "2012-12-07T15:17:40Z")
I see it now on the “second” business being wrong. But that eel-y thing really did have a second set darting out–that was what all the fuss was about at the lab. Any idea? It bugs me now. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-shark-with-a-second-set-of-outwardly-thrust-jaws-real/643299/5 "2012-12-07T15:21:25Z")
Got it. > **[Moray eel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moray_eel)** > > Moray eels, or Muraenidae (/ˈmɒreɪ, məˈreɪ/), are a family of eels whose members are found worldwide. There are approximately 200 species in 15 genera which are almost exclusively marine, but several species are regularly seen in brackish water, and a few are found in fresh water. > The English name, from the early 17th century, derives from Portuguese moréia, which itself derives from Latin mūrēna, in turn from Greek μύραινα, muraina; these are the Latin and Greek names of the Mediterranean mor... This is the video I saw: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Rv2DkzOPBXw/hqdefault.jpg "How Moray Eels Eat: A Second Set of Jaws") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv2DkzOPBXw) Somewhere in SD is a longish thread with poetry about the moray eel. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-shark-with-a-second-set-of-outwardly-thrust-jaws-real/643299/6 "2012-12-07T15:34:13Z")
Yep, that’s a goblin shark. Most sharks have jaws that can thrust forward like that, though it’s a bit more dramatic in this species than in most. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-shark-with-a-second-set-of-outwardly-thrust-jaws-real/643299/7 "2012-12-07T15:42:12Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Somewhere in SD is a longish thread with poetry about the moray eel. “When you swim in the sea, And an eel bites your knee, That’s a moray.”? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-shark-with-a-second-set-of-outwardly-thrust-jaws-real/643299/8 "2012-12-07T16:30:37Z")
I thought it was the featured monster in a horror film to be shown on SyFy next month: _GigerSharks in Space!_ ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-shark-with-a-second-set-of-outwardly-thrust-jaws-real/643299/9 "2012-12-07T17:05:10Z")
Better than _GigaSharks in Space_, really. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-shark-with-a-second-set-of-outwardly-thrust-jaws-real/643299/10 "2012-12-07T17:33:02Z")
The other day Celtling started telling me what she’d learned that day about “Cookie Cutter Sharks.” They have bioluminescent bellies, and sneak up on their prey by swimming above them and lighting up, so when the prey looks up all they see is the sun shining through the water, then . . .yeeouch! They live mostly on blubber, and just go up to the side of a larger fish and drill out a circular hunk, then swim away. They are dangerous to boats because they sometimes mistake rubber for blubber and make holes in the cladding. I was so dubious I went and googled it. Sure enough, they exist, and are some seriously disturbing creatures. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-shark-with-a-second-set-of-outwardly-thrust-jaws-real/643299/11 "2012-12-07T18:15:34Z")
That looks like inspiration for the monster in Alien, although I think that thing really did have an inner jaw. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-shark-with-a-second-set-of-outwardly-thrust-jaws-real/643299/12 "2012-12-07T20:03:36Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > That looks like inspiration for the monster in Alien, although I think that thing really did have an inner jaw. Take a look at that Moray Eel video. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-shark-with-a-second-set-of-outwardly-thrust-jaws-real/643299/13 "2012-12-07T23:44:45Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > That looks like inspiration for the monster in Alien, although I think that thing really did have an inner jaw. Ridley Scott mentioned that the look of that very first adult Alien (sort of) in the last shot of \*Prometheus \*was inspired by the Goblin Shark… ---
**Author:** ![Lazlo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lazlo/32/9678_2.png) [@Lazlo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazlo)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-shark-with-a-second-set-of-outwardly-thrust-jaws-real/643299/14 "2012-12-08T00:11:18Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > The other day Celtling started telling me what she’d learned that day about “Cookie Cutter Sharks.” > > They have bioluminescent bellies, and sneak up on their prey by swimming above them and lighting up, so when the prey looks up all they see is the sun shining through the water, then . . .yeeouch! > > They live mostly on blubber, and just go up to the side of a larger fish and drill out a circular hunk, then swim away. They are dangerous to boats because they sometimes mistake rubber for blubber and make holes in the cladding. > > I was so dubious I went and googled it. Sure enough, they exist, and are some seriously disturbing creatures. [Here’s a link about them on IO9](http://io9.com/5817817/what-its-like-to-be-bitten-by-the-cookiecutter-shark). Make sure and click on the link showing the poor guy’s calf. 😉