Pufferfish Inflates Inside Eel's Mouth During Fight On Shore, Both Dead

Dead pufferfish washing up on shore is a common sight off beaches, but a puffed-up fish in an eel’s jaws is not an everyday occurrence. For the same reason, when Tim Mayer came across a four-foot-long moray eel with a pufferfish in its mouth, he knew he was onto something.

Mayer and his three-year-old daughter were taking a casual stroll along Titikaveka beach when they chanced upon the dead eel. The 39-year-old scuba diving instructor immediately called his wife and son to witness the same.

Recalling the incident, Mayer told Daily Mail, “Our first thought was it was some driftwood, but we don’t get that here on this side of the island. As we got closer, I realized it was an eel.”

“The eel would have been about 1.3 meters (4 feet) long. It looks like the porcupine fish got the better of the eel but they both paid the ultimate price,” he added.

The family then contacted a local marine biologist who arrived at the scene and told them that the eel likely attempted to swallow the pufferfish which in turn inflated in its mouth as a defense mechanism.

“I was blown away when I saw it. I couldn't believe that this type of interaction existed and I’d never heard about it,” biologist Kirby Morejohn told the outlet.

“One of the reasons eels are perceived as scary is due to their open, gaping, toothy mouths, but it turns out this is how they breathe. After the eel’s dinner inflated and lodged in its mouth, the eel would not have been able to draw in water and likely died from suffocation. Nature usually seems to have sorted out the kinks. If porcupine fish are normally on an eel’s menu, I’d expect eels to target sizes that can be swallowed. But clearly, this isn’t the case," he said.

Calling the incident "surreal," Mayer went on to tell the outlet that his kids "were amazed."

"The kids couldn't really grasp what was happening, but they were amazed that both animals had died in the fight. They just wanted to touch it. They really wanted to show their friends the discovery even though it meant they were late for school, so we had to message the photos to their teachers to explain. When they got in, they were excited to tell their friends about it, and it even resulted in a science inquiry where the teacher showed the photos to the whole class," he said.

The strange showdown between the sea creatures happened on the island of Titikaveka, which is one of the five districts that make up the island of Rarotonga in the Cook Islands.