Researchers found that juvenile Japanese eels escape predators by reversing through the digestive tract using their tails.

Japanese eels have found an ingenious way to escape a fish's stomach after being swallowed — backing up the digestive tract then squeezing themselves out of the predator's gills. In a scientific first,

Japanese researchers have captured a surprising escape tactic used by juvenile eels, and they aren't the only animal that can escape digestion.

Of the 32 eels that were swallowed whole by dark sleeper fish in a recent study, nine of them successfully escaped to safety

Some teenage Japanese eels have found a way to avoid becoming a fish’s next meal. Anguilla japonica eels can escape a predator’s stomach through the fish’s gills. Now, scientists are using X-ray videography to watch just how eels accomplish this. The findings are detailed in a study published September 9 in the journal Current Biology .

X-ray videos showed that some young Japanese eels demonstrated that they were not content to become a predator’s meal.

Prey animals have evolved many ways to escape being eaten by a predator. Some flee with speed, while others hide using mimicry. But for Japanese eels, escape means wiggling out tail-first from the stomach of a fish.