Pelican eel

The pelican eel (Eurypharynx pelecanoides) is a deep-sea fish with an enormous expandable mouth and a long, whip-like tail.

Eurypharynx pelecanoides: The sole living species in the genus Eurypharynx, commonly called the pelican eel. This is the scientific species name behind the pelican eel’s common name.
Gape-limited predation: Predation in which the size of a predator’s mouth limits the size of prey it can swallow. The pelican eel’s enormous gape relaxes a common constraint on prey size.
Eurypharynx pelecanoides in the Azores: A regional occurrence of the pelican eel documented in deep waters around the Azores. Azorean records help establish the eel’s presence in the eastern North Atlantic.
Deep-sea fish migration: The movement of fishes between depths or regions of the deep ocean. The pelican eel’s movements through the water column remain difficult to track.
Saccopharyngiformes: An order of deep-sea eel-like fishes that includes gulper eels and closely related forms. Pelican eels belong to this order of deep-sea fishes.
Suction feeding: A feeding method that draws prey into a mouth by rapidly expanding the buccal cavity. Unlike many suction feeders, the pelican eel is noted for engulfing prey with its distensible jaws.
Deep-sea trawling: Fishing with nets dragged along or above the deep ocean floor. Many pelican eel specimens have been collected as incidental catches in deep-water nets.
Pelagic fish reproduction: Reproductive strategies of fishes living in the open water rather than on the seafloor. The eel’s spawning locations and reproductive behavior are not well documented.
Anguilliformes: The order containing true eels, including freshwater eels, morays, and congers. Pelican eels resemble true eels but belong to a different order.
Deep-sea food web: The network of feeding relationships among organisms living in the ocean’s deep regions. Its likely opportunistic feeding links it to the sparse, varied deep-sea food supply.

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Black swallowerCompared with: Its mouth pouch resembles an oversized feeding adaptation, but differs from the swallower’s distensible stomach.