The eel that the "Alien" jaw was modeled after

[Dowly]

Originally Posted by mako88sb

Oh! Okay. I guess I just jumped to that conclusion without looking into it. Was he aware of the Moray Eel jaw when he came up with the design?

No, he learned of the Moray Eel's double-jaw in 2007.

Dr. Mehta is investigating other fishes to find clues to how the moray’s double bite evolved. So far, she knows of no other animal that feeds this way. At least on this planet.

H. R. Giger, the Swiss artist who created the alien for the director Ridley Scott, was amused by the researchers’ discovery.

“It’s funny,” he said. “The double teeth came when I did my first drawings. Ridley Scott told me to make it so that it could move. I hadn’t studied any animal. My instructions were that it should be somehow frightening and horrible, and I did my best.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/11/sc...1eel.html?_r=0