A set of jaws can invoke visions of deadly toothy sharks,
and now scientists find the earliest fish with chops — the ancestors of all
jawed creatures with backbones — were also armed with teeth, researchers say.
The evolution of teeth and jaws in vertebrates — animals
with backbones — about 420 million years ago is considered to be a key factor
behind their success, making everything from a T. rex's
razor-sharp teeth to a dwarf
mammoth's grinding molars possible. However, whether jaws or teeth
came first remains uncertain.
"It has long been thought that the first jawed
vertebrates were gummy — [they had] jaws without teeth, capturing prey by
suction-feeding," researcher Philip Donoghue, a paleontologist at the University
of Bristol in England, told LiveScience.
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