AN ancient fozziled fish with an extreme underbite has been re-analysed by researchers.
The 365 million-year-old creature has been compared to an alien due to it’s bizarre and terrifying looks.
The researchers who first discovered the ancient fossil, thought it was strange they called it Alienacanthus.
It has long spiny fins and lots of spikey teeth.
The fish is said to belong to a family of creatures called arthrodires.
Arthrodires are a group of extinct, armoured jaw fish that are very different from the fish we see today.
New analysis of the Alienacanthus revealed that one of it’s presumed long spines was actually its jaw.
That means the fish has one of the longest and oldest underbites ever observed.
The researchers published their findings in the Royal Society Open Science journal.
“This armoured ‘fish’ expands the morphological and ecological diversity during one of the first radiations of jawed vertebrates with a combination of features so far unrecorded for arthrodires,” they wrote.
The team of scientists believes the long jaw was used to trap prey.
They said: “The dentition suggests a catching and trapping live prey function.”
“This animal is so unique that the entire jaw mechanism had to work a little differently to accommodate for the lower jaws.” lead study author Melina Jobbins told Live Science.
It’s thought its unusually potisioned teeth helped keep prey from escaping one they were trapped inside the large jaw.
The finish may have also used it’s mouth to sieve through sediment.
Researchers think the fish lived at a time when Earth was separated into two super continents.
Dr. Thomas Hughes is a UK-based scientist and science communicator who makes complex topics accessible to readers. His articles explore breakthroughs in various scientific disciplines, from space exploration to cutting-edge research.
