Giant Eel Attacks, Swallows Shark In Dramatic Underwater Battle
Dramatic video has emerged of a pitched undersea battle, in which a giant eel attacked and nearly swallowed a shark whole.
The video depicts the large eel wrestling with the shark, which was caught by the tail, as the Daily Mail notes. After the eel attacks the shark, it drags the unlucky animal under a nearby stand of coral. By the time that the pair emerge, the eel has managed to reposition itself, swallowing the shark headfirst. Only the shark’s tail remains visible, protruding from the eel’s mouth. The shark clearly presents a challenge for the other predator, however, as the eel twists and turns in its efforts to swallow.
As divers follow the undulating eel, it continues to attempt to consume the shark, though it is unable to engulf the animal entirely. The shark’s dorsal fin becomes visible at one point in the struggle, as the eel begins to lose its hold. Eventually, the eel gives up, regurgitating the small shark and swiftly moving off. The disoriented shark is then observed swimming away from the scene of its near demise.
The moment an eel almost swallowed a shark whole http://t.co/FMwoSV7X6y #eel #shark pic.twitter.com/s0VVaAA2AN
— Stephen Burns (@sj17burns) November 8, 2014
As Dive.in notes, the shark involved in the battle was a whitetip reef shark. A large requiem shark that inhabits tropical waters, whitetips are an aggressive, but slow-moving species. Commercially prized, whitetip sharks face increasing pressure from fishermen, as their fins represent a prized main ingredient in shark fin soup.
Eel v. Shark: It’s a lunchtime battle you have to see: http://t.co/5G5u7MHsQG pic.twitter.com/4LvbjPzZtn
— Awesome Ocean (@1AwesomeOcean) November 7, 2014
Though dramatic, the video isn’t the first time that a battle between a shark and another predator has recently been captured on film. As the Inquisitr previously reported, video emerged earlier this year of a confrontation between a bull shark and a crocodile in the Australian outback. The crocodile, named Brutus, is believed by locals to be 80-years-old, and is missing a front leg and many of its teeth. Though observers watched the crocodile pull the thrashing shark out of the water, it was unclear which animal persevered in the end.
Video of an unlucky shark’s encounter with a giant grouper also came to light recently. The four-foot-long shark had been hooked and reeled in by fishermen, when it was struck seemingly out of nowhere by a grouper. The giant fish attacked the shark, swallowing the predator whole.
[Image via Dive.in]
