The iconic prospect in Ridley Scott’sAlienwhere an embryologic xenomorphbursts out of John Hurt’schest and all over the dinner party mesa might seem like an result confined to science fiction , but as it turns out it ’s not so far from world . Modern enquiry published in the journalMemoirs of the Queensland Museumdetails the sick fate of some vulture that have eaten a snake eel , only to have it burst forth from their stomachs . Even more grisly however is that once free of the breadbasket the snake eels are still trapped inside the brute , and it only gets nastier from there . I ’d recommend you finish anything you might be eating at this critical point of the story .
The inquiry comes from a team of scientist from Northern Territory Fisheries , CSIRO Australian National Fish Collection , Queensland Museum , and Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory who were study snake eel in Australian water . Snake eels , also known as burrowing eel , are a prospicient and slender species of fish characterized by their ability to speedily reverse using a hard - level fanny tip that turn off through the ocean floor
It seems logical then that when swallowed active the snake eel would essay burrowing their way out , and it ’s this same hard - tipped tail that reserve them to rupture through the tum wall of their captors . Unfortunately , the Houdini endeavor is flawed as the eel then get stuck and eventually mummified in the gut cavity . Yikes .
The researchers discovered the mummified remain of seven species of snake eels trapped inside the body cavity of 11 different species of predatory Pisces . The species involved were divers and from different localisation showing that the grim serial of events is probable a far-flung quarry - predatory animal fundamental interaction between snake eels and their soon - to - be sarcophagi . It ’s also potential the fish do n’t even notice .
Co - writer of the cogitation , Jeff Johnson , an Ichthyologist from the Queensland Museum , give away that on social function such eel - imbed specimens have been convey into the museum by confused fishermen who intend they might perhaps be some kind ofgiant parasitical worm . Though the nightmarish snake eel attempted safety valve is plausibly on equation with the grossness of massive parasite , you have to admit the discovery has a certain flair to it . If you ’re going to get swallowed , might as well go down fighting .
