Long before other fish, ancient sharks found an alternative way to feed

Researchers from the University of Chicago have used tools developed to explore 3D movements and mechanics of modern-day fish jaws to analyze a fossil fish for the first time. Combined with CT imaging technology able to capture images of the fossil while it is still encased in rock, the results reveal that the 335-million-year-old shark had sophisticated jaws capable of the kind of suction feeding common to bony fishes like bass, perch, carp and also modern-day nurse sharks.

Tristychius had a circular mouth pushed forward at the end of its muzzle like a modern-day nurse shark. Its ability
to control this opening provided it with access to previously untapped food resources, such as prey taking
refuge in shallow burrows or otherwise difficult to capture schools of shrimp or juvenile fish
[Credit: Kristen Tietjen, UChicago]

Remarkably, these ancient shark jaws are some 50 million years older than the earliest evidence of similar jaws adapted for suction feeding in bony fishes. This shows both the evolutionary versatility of sharks, and how sharks responded quickly to new ecological opportunities in the aftermath of one of the five big extinctions in Earth's history.

"Among today's aquatic vertebrates, suction feeding is widespread, and is often cited as a key factor contributing to the spectacular evolutionary success of ray-finned fishes," said Michael Coates, PhD, professor of organismal biology and anatomy at the University of Chicago and senior author of the new study. "But here we show that high-performance aquatic suction feeding first appeared in one of the earliest known sharks."

The study, published this week in Science Advances, describes the fossil of Tristychius arcuatus, a 2-foot long shark similar to a dogfish. It was first discovered by Swiss biologist Louis Agassiz in 1837, and later described in detail by John Dick, a former classmate of Coates', in 1978. Tristychius, and other Devonian period sharks like it, are found in ironstone rock nodules along the shores of the Firth of Forth near Edinburgh, Scotland.

Shark fossils are rare because their cartilage skeleton usually rots away before there's any chance of fossilization. For decades, researchers studying ancient sharks have been limited to isolated teeth and fin spines. Even if they do find a more complete skeleton, it's usually flattened, or, if it's encased in one of these stones, it crumbles when they try to remove it.

Prof. Michael Coates holds a 3-D printed model of the Tristychius skull and jaws
[Credit: Matt Wood]

Coates and his lab have been leading the field in applying modern imaging technology and software to study these challenging fossils. CT scanning allows them to create 3D images of any fossilized cartilage and the impressions it left while still encased in the stone.

Then, using sophisticated modeling software originally developed to study structure and function in modern-day fish, they can recreate what the complete skeleton looked like, how the pieces fit together and moved, and what that meant for how these sharks lived. "These new CT methods are releasing a motherlode of previously inaccessible data," Coates said.

His team started re-examining some of the same fossils Dick studied, as well as specimens left untouched in earlier research. "Some of this is superbly preserved," Coates said. "We realized that when we got all the parts out [virtually], we had the complete construction kit to rebuild our shark in 3D."

That virtual construction kit also allowed them to create 3D plastic printouts of the cartilages that build a shark's skull. These, in turn, allowed Coates and his team to model movements and connections, both physically and virtually, to see how the skull worked.