How Are They Biting? High Speed Video Reveals Unexpected Jaw Movements in Reef Fish
Some reef fish have the unexpected ability to move their jaws from side to side, biologists at the University of California, Davis have discovered. This ability – which is rare among vertebrate animals – allows these fish to feed rapidly and efficiently on algae growing on rocks. The work is published May 5 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Being able to move your jaw from side to side might not seem surprising from a human point of view, but if you look across all vertebrate species – half of which are fish – it is almost unique, said Peter Wainwright, professor in the Department of Evolution and Ecology at UC Davis and senior author on the paper.
For mammals, being able to move our lower jaw from side to side as well as up and down allows us to chew our food before swallowing it. That has helped make mammal species the dominant herbivores on land.
“It’s extremely unusual among vertebrates and has interesting ecological and evolutionary consequences when it does occur,” Wainwright said.
Most fish species feed on prey floating freely in the water by sucking in a mouthful and trapping anything inside it. But on reefs, about half of fish species feed by grazing on algae or other organisms growing on the reef.