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Published on: September 4, 2016
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High-performance suction feeding in an early elasmobranch
Michael I Coates1, Kristen Tietjen1, Aaron M Olsen2
1Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, 1027 E 57th St., Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
Science Advances
|September 20, 2019
Summary
Early sharks, like Tristychius arcuatus, possessed advanced suction feeding capabilities, challenging the notion of sharks as morphologically conservative. This finding reveals sharks as early innovators in vertebrate evolution.
Area of Science:
- Paleontology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Biomechanics
Background:
- Ray-finned fishes are often credited with advanced suction feeding, a key to their evolutionary success.
- Sharks have historically been viewed as morphologically conservative with less sophisticated jaws.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the cranial feeding apparatus of the early stem elasmobranch Tristychius arcuatus.
- To investigate the feeding capabilities of early sharks using advanced modeling techniques.
Main Methods:
- Computational modeling
- Physical modeling
- Quantitative three-dimensional motion simulation of the Tristychius arcuatus cranial skeleton.
Main Results:
- The feeding apparatus of Tristychius arcuatus was highly derived and capable of substantial oral expansion.
- Tristychius arcuatus exhibited potential for high-performance suction feeding 50 million years before similar capabilities in osteichthyan fishes.
- Exceptional jaw performance was not evident from traditional 2D ecomorphospace analyses.
Conclusions:
- Tristychius arcuatus demonstrates the emergence of novel chondrichthyan ecomorphologies post-end-Devonian extinction.
- Early sharks were significant innovators, contributing to the early radiation of the modern vertebrate biota.
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