Alien-like photo shows a snake eel dangling out of heron's stomach midair

A recent picture of a snake eel dangling from the stomach of a flying heron has been going viral. The heron regretted eating the snake eel which burst out of the stomach of the flying bird in its desperate bid to evade death. The surprising fact is that the photo shows the eel bursting of the stomach of the bird, which seems unharmed and continues to fly.

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Who captured this alien-like photo?

This event was so unusual that it even caught the attention of other predators. Sam Davis who clicked this picture on the Delaware Shore offered more insights to Live Science. He said that a lot of baby eagles and even a fox was attracted by this uncommon incident and were following the heron. Probably these predators were hoping to find a great meal and were expecting either the bird or the eel to die soon.

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Davis, who first saw this bizarre incident though the opposite, assumed that the snake eel had bitten the heron on its neck and the bird was flying to evade this problem. He took a snap of the animals with his telephoto lens. He also added that the bird was not that much disturbed even though the snake eel burst out of its stomach. It flew calmly and even landed on water while the eel was still dangling. He shared that the eel was possibly alive to some extent as it was arching its body heavily.

His primary assumption was proven wrong as soon as he came home and edited this picture. He clearly saw that the eel was burrowing from the stomach of the heron.

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What did scientists say about this alien-like photo?

John Pgonosky, who is an ichthyologist working at the Australian National Fish Collection at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), was equally amazed after seeing this picture. He has already published a research paper in the Memoirs of the Queensland Museum on snake eels and how they behave while being hunted by their attackers. The snake eels are a fish from the Ophichithidae family. Pogonksy and his colleagues found an interesting fact. He said to the portal that these eels often use their tough head to pierce the stomach muscles or tissues or swim through the body cavity of the attacker to come out. But they are usually unable to escape. He also added that this incident involving the snake eel and the heron was quite rare.

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Pogonsky added that the eel might have died and the heron might have survived. It is because the heron seemed unfazed. But the survival of the bird depends on how it was able to heal. On the other hand, the eel only had a chance of survival in case it was dropped in the water.

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