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Fossil Fish Sheds New Light on Extra Teeth Evolution to Devour Prey
Platysomus parvulus exhibits an early evolutionary intermediate tongue bite mechanism, a complex dental adaptation aiding feeding diversification after the End-Devonian extinction, revealed by CT scans.
- Researchers discovered a 310-million-year-old fossil of the ray-finned fish Platysomus parvulus in Carboniferous strata of Staffordshire, UK, revealing a unique feeding adaptation.
- This finding follows the End-Devonian Mass Extinction about 360 million years ago, after which ray-finned fishes diversified and evolved novel feeding strategies.
- Using high-resolution CT scanning, researchers digitally dissected the fossil's mouth to uncover a sophisticated tooth plate arrangement forming a tongue bite mechanism for crushing prey.
- Professor Matt Friedman called this fish "a key evolutionary step" that helps explain ancient ecosystem function and the origin of modern fish lineages, noting tongue bites as one feeding innovation.
- The discovery redefines early vertebrate oral diversity and suggests rapid evolutionary experimentation with feeding structures after the extinction event, paving the way for later advanced tongue biting fishes.
20 Articles
20 Articles
310-million-year-old fossil reveals earliest ‘tongue bite’
Artist’s impression of Platysomus parvulus with its tongue bite exposed. Credit: Joschua Knüppe Imagine having an extra set of teeth on the roof and floor of your mouth. In addition to chewing with the molars on your jaw, you could also grip and crush food between these plate-like teeth. Humans never evolved this unique ‘tongue bite’ approach, but lots of different fish have to crush and chew shelled or insect prey. “Tongue bites have evolved ma…
Science Daily
ecotopical.comFossil reveals a 310-million-year-old fish that ate with a hidden second jaw
Scientists uncovered a 310-million-year-old fish fossil with a “tongue bite,” teeth on the roof and floor of its mouth that worked like a second jaw. This adaptation, previously thought to have appeared much later, shows how fish rapidly experimented with new feeding strategies after mass extinction.
Daily Journal
This ancient fish had four sets of teeth instead of two
The fossil find sheds new light on the evolution of extra teeth.
A fossilized ray finfish of 310 million years old developed a unique way of devouring its prey by discovering extra teeth at the bottom of its mouth, the oldest known.
Ancient Fossil Fish Reveals Evolution of Extra Teeth for Enhanced Prey
An extraordinary discovery from the depths of geological time has unveiled the earliest known example of a fish possessing an intricate dental adaptation— a ‘tongue bite’ mechanism—dated to over 310 million years ago. This fossilized ray-finned fish, Platysomus parvulus, represents an unprecedented insight into the evolution of complex feeding strategies long before previously recognized. Using cutting-edge high-resolution computed tomography (C…
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