Researchers think the shark developed its rotating jaw to accommodate tooth regrowth.
Christian Klug / UZHTheFerromirum oukherbouchidateslived on Earth 370 million age ago .
scientist have uncovered the remains of a prehistorical shark that once lurked in the waters of what is now Morocco . A fresh work on the shark fossils suggests that it possessed the terrific ability to rotate its jaw , where a hidden row of sharp teeth stick out outwards when its mouth opened to feed .
According toLive Science , this prehistoric shark calledFerromirum oukherbouchidateslived370 million days ago . It was a ferocious predator of the ocean with an spry , slim body measuring about 13 column inch long . It had a shortsighted triangular beak with remarkably large eye , with orbital cavity taking up about 30 per centum of its braincase ’s total distance .
Christian Klug/UZHTheFerromirum oukherbouchidateslived on Earth 370 million years ago.
In a November 2020 studypublishedin the journalCommunications Biology , researchers probe the skull and jaw of the prehistoric shark using computed X - ray imaging ( CT ) , then created a 3D mannequin to conduct forcible test . They retrieve some interesting things from their study .
Frey et alScientists used modern computerized tomography read to recreate a 3D model of the shark ’s distinguishable jaw .
The biggest departure researchers find between theF. oukherbouchidatesand their modern - mean solar day blood brother was their unique dental structure . innovative sharks easily fall back any tooth bear down by their mighty bite and promptly grow a new tooth in its place .
Frey et alScientists used advanced CT scanning to recreate a 3D model of the shark’s distinct jaw.
But the prehistoric shark ’s jaws were completely different . Whenever the prehistoric shark lost one of its teeth , a raw tooth sprouted in a wrangle on the interior of the jaw , next to the former teeth . Their fresh tooth did n’t grow up but curved inward toward the shark ’s tongue , essentially flattening its dustup of teeth when its mouth was closed .
When the prehistoric shark give its back talk , the gristle at the back of the jaw would flex so that the sides of the jaw “ fold ” down and the newer , sharper tooth rotated upward . This turn on the prehistoric shark to found a remarkably lethal bite into its prey using as many tooth as possible .
When the shark ’s jaw closed again , the force of its jaw would push brine and its prey down toward the pharynx while , at the same time , its piercing new teeth rotated inward to entrap its prey . This horrifying eating method acting is known as suction - feeding .
PixabayTheF. oukherbouchiwas unable to quickly regrow lost teeth like modern sharks do.
“ Through this rotation , the young , larger , and sharper teeth , which ordinarily aim toward the interior of the mouth , were bring into an vertical stead . This made it prosperous for brute to impale their prey , ” say Linda Frey , principal source of the study and a doctoral candidate with the Institut für Paläontologie und Paläontologisches Museum at the University of Zurich in Switzerland .
PixabayTheF. oukherbouchiwas unable to chop-chop regrow lost dentition like modern sharks do .
The remarkable jaw pattern drift , scientists wrote , was unlike anything ever incur in any living Pisces to date .
One living shark species that has a likewise shocking jaw procedure is thegoblin shark , which can flourish and draw in its jaw to hurtle at unsuspecting prey . But the goblin shark ’s way-out ability would still be no match for the furious feeding behavior of theF. oukherbouchidates .
This rotating jaw disappeared as modern shark mintage develop , equipped with rapid tooth regrowth .
The find has given researcher a fundamental chance to further read the biologic jaw mathematical function in former chondrichthyans , the animal class that includes shark , skates , and rays .
The newfangled study could also help scientists sympathise how this specialised combination of jaw movement and tooth positioning was distributed across the shark mob tree and enter out how the tooth clusters among modern shark species evolved .
Now that you ’ve learn about how this prehistorical shark could rotate its jaw , understand all aboutthe megalodon , the prehistorical shark 10 times the size of a t - king . Next , learn about theGreenland shark , the world ’s longest - living vertebrate .
