Sharklike Fish With Weird, Buzz-Saw Jaws Sliced Through t...

What’s Happening

So get this: These “total monsters of fishes” are extinct today, though new clues about their lives come from CT scans and their closest living relatives: the big-eyed ratfish of the deep sea Sharklike Fish With Weird, Buzz-Saw Jaws Sliced Through the Seas, Then Vanished.

Now, Paleontologists Are Unraveling Their Secrets These total monsters of fishes are extinct today, though new clues about their lives come from CT scans and their closest living relatives: the big-eyed ratfish of the deep sea Riley Black - Science Correspondent 10:00 a. Strange fossils reveal that predatory fish with a wide array of dental setups once stalked prehistoric waters. (we’re not making this up)

Images by Entelognathus, Gasmasque, Dmitry Bogdanov via Wikimedia Commons Key takeaways: Oddities of the whorl-toothed fishes The eugeneodontiformes, a group of prehistoric fishes with strange teeth and jaws, have no living descendants today.

The Details

Paleontologists were long baffled of outward-pointing teeth from these animals, but their understanding of these little-known swimmers has made leaps forward since 2013. The fossil whorls were a mystery.

In 1899, geologist Alexander Karpinsky described an odd spiral of teeth, the first known fossil of its kind, uncovered from the ancient rocks of Krasnoufimsk, Russia. He named the creature Helicoprion —and while he knew the teeth had come from a prehistoric fish, Karpinsky wasn’t at all sure how they fit on the animal’s body.

Why This Matters

He suggested that the whorl jutted from the fish’s snout and curled back over its head, with the teeth pointing outward like some sort of weapon. No one fr knew whether he was right. Decade by decade, different the experts tried to crack the case.

This could have implications for future research in this area.

Key Takeaways

• Perhaps the whorl belonged in the upper jaw—or in the lower, or on a fin, or even deep within the fish’s throat.
• Not until 2013 did CT scans of Helicoprion fossils reveal skull bones and cartilage associated with the jaws that had been hiding in plain sight.

The Bottom Line

Perhaps the whorl belonged in the upper jaw—or in the lower, or on a fin, or even deep within the fish’s throat. Not until 2013 did CT scans of Helicoprion fossils reveal skull bones and cartilage associated with the jaws that had been hiding in plain sight.

Is this a W or an L? You decide.