The structure is a modified process on the tongue, filled with blood vessels that flush it a pale pink. The turtle rests on the bottom with its mouth held open, algae-covered shell indistinguishable from the substrate, and moves the appendage in a slow writhing motion. Fish approach to investigate and are taken by a strike.
Luring is only part of the diet. Alligator snappers also scavenge, take molluscs and crayfish, and eat other turtles, and adults will forage actively at night rather than relying on ambush alone.
Size is often exaggerated. Reliable maximum weights for wild adults run to roughly ninety to a hundred kilograms, with most large individuals well below that. Claims of specimens far heavier generally trace to captive animals, poor records, or measurements never independently confirmed.