320kmph jaw acceleration puts the dracula ant at the top of Discover Wildlife's roundup of the fastest bites, with researchers estimating it snaps shut in about 20 microseconds.
1/6000 of a second is the hairy frogfish's strike time; it opens its mouth up to 12 times wider and creates a vacuum that sucks in prey almost instantly.
3.5 meters per second is the measured strike speed for the terciopelo viper, identified in a 2025 Journal of Experimental Biology study as the fastest biter among the tested vipers.
Several dozen snakes were tested near Paris using high-speed cameras and ballistic-gel decoys, though researchers said an even faster striking species may still be undiscovered.