Tailless Caecilians: Caeciliidae

Tailless caecilians are sit-and-wait predators, staying in their burrows or on the ground and then grabbing prey animals that wander near them. These caecilians eat earthworms, termites, other small invertebrates, and even small lizards and rodents. Invertebrates (in-VER-teh-brehts) are animals without backbones. Tailless caecilians lunge at their prey, grabbing it with their strong jaws and powerful jaw muscles. They force prey animals into their mouths and gradually swallow them. Some tailless caecilians move backward into their burrows, turning rapidly on their body in a corkscrew motion in order to break the prey into bite-sized morsels. Water-dwelling tailless caecilians hunt for their prey by poking around with their snout at the bottom of the stream.