Tuesday, March 27, 2012

This fish has SHARP teeth!

In fact, university researchers claim that they have identified the fish with the sharpest teeth ever recorded! The good news is that you're unlikely to land one because it's apparently been extinct for about 500 Million years!

According to a team of scientists from Monash University and the University of Bristol fish called Conodonts, a group that first appeared around 500 million years ago, were easily able to bite through the animal’s food despite measuring only a millimeter in length.

The fragile nature of the tiny fossil remains of animals that died out more than 200 million years ago meant scientists had to create virtual 3D models of the material using x-rays from a particle accelerator in Japan before they could conduct thorough research.

“Evidence suggested the conodonts were the first vertebrates to develop teeth,” said Dr. Alistair Evans of Monash University’s School of Biological Sciences, a co-author on the study. “Conodonts had no other skeleton than the teeth in their mouths. These came together a bit like scissors, to slice up food.”

Read more about the sharpest fish teeth ever here.

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