I have to work on a LOT of fish in my lab, mostly out of the Niobrara chalk. While working on the myriad of disarticulated skull parts (espescially Enchodus, those things explode more than any other fish) I wonder: do these fish lose their teeth and replace them as they grow? I wonder this every time I look at a Xiphactinus or Pachyrhizodus.
Good news when I finally get back to prepping (in a few months) I'm going to be on the Ichthyodectes and Cimolichthys 3D restoration projects, prepping the donor and reference specemins. No word on when the Protosphyrena project is going to start, but I think later in the year is a good guess.
| QUOTE (Camarasaurus @ Nov 28 2005, 01:55 PM) |
I have to work on a LOT of fish in my lab, mostly out of the Niobrara chalk. While working on the myriad of disarticulated skull parts (espescially Enchodus, those things explode more than any other fish) I wonder: do these fish lose their teeth and replace them as they grow? I wonder this every time I look at a Xiphactinus or Pachyrhizodus.
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Yes, Enchodus did replace lost teeth. I'm sure Xiphactinus and Pachyrhizodus did as well.
I once found an Enchodus palatine in the Demopolis chalk of Mississippi that had the new replacement fang growing in front of the old one which hadn't fallen out yet. A double saber-toothed herring!! :omg:
I also found a lot of other shed teleost teeth (Xiphactinus, Pachyrhizodus, Anomoeodus, etc) in a lag deposit at the base of the Demopolis chalk so Paleoichthyologist is right.