Scientists get teeth into fossil fish discovery

A NEWLY-DISCOVERED 310-million-year-old fossilised fish is the earliest known example of one with extra teeth deep inside its mouth.

- STEPHEN BEECH News Reporter

The ray-finned fish found in Staffordshire evolved a “unique” way of devouring prey, say scientists.

They explained that Platysomus parvulus used a “tongue bite” to devour its prey - a special set of teeth on the floor and roof of its mouth to help it crush and chew tough food, such as shells or insects. The fossil find, described in the journal Biology Letters, sheds new light on the evolution of extra teeth.

Most fish today use their jaws to bite and chew, but some also have tongue bites, which work like a second set of jaws.

Until now, the oldest known fish with such a dental arrangement lived around 150 million years later than Platysomus parvulus.