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Klimpfinger C, Kriwet J. Morphological Variability and Function of Labial Cartilages in Sharks (Chondrichthyes, Elasmobranchii). BIOLOGY 2023; 12:1486. [PMID: 38132312 PMCID: PMC10741050 DOI: 10.3390/biology12121486] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2023] [Revised: 11/29/2023] [Accepted: 12/01/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023]
Abstract
(1) Background: Labial cartilages (LCs), as their name suggests, lie in the folds of the connective tissue, the lips, framing the gape of elasmobranch chondrichthyans. As such, these cartilages lie laterally to the jaws and marginal teeth. They are considered to influence the ability of creating suction during the feeding process. As past studies have shown, LCs in sharks are as diverse as their varied feeding techniques and differ between species in number, size, shape, and position. This allows establishing parameters for inferring the feeding and hunting behaviors in these ecologically important fishes. (2) Methods: We present a study of LCs based on the CT scans of more than 100 extant shark species and, therefore, represent at least one member of every living family within the Euselachii, excluding batoids. (3) Results: Accordingly, sharks without labial cartilages or that have only small remnants are ram feeders or use pure biting and mainly occupy higher trophic levels (tertiary and quaternary consumers), whereas suction-feeding sharks have higher numbers (up to five pairs) of well-developed LCs and occupy slightly lower trophic levels (mainly secondary consumers). Species with unique feeding strategies, like the cookie-cutter shark (Isistius brasiliensis, an ectoparasite), display distinct shapes of LCs, while generalist species, conversely, exhibit a simpler arrangement of LCs. (4) Conclusions: We propose a dichotomous identification key to classify single LCs into different morphotypes and propose combinations of morphotypes that result in suction feeding differing in strength and, therefore, different hunting and feeding strategies. The conclusions of this study allow to infer information about feeding strategies not only in extant less-known sharks but also extinct sharks.
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Jambura PL, Villalobos-Segura E, Türtscher J, Begat A, Staggl MA, Stumpf S, Kindlimann R, Klug S, Lacombat F, Pohl B, Maisey JG, Naylor GJP, Kriwet J. Systematics and Phylogenetic Interrelationships of the Enigmatic Late Jurassic Shark Protospinax annectans Woodward, 1918 with Comments on the Shark-Ray Sister Group Relationship. DIVERSITY 2023; 15:311. [PMID: 36950326 PMCID: PMC7614347 DOI: 10.3390/d15030311] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/25/2023]
Abstract
The Late Jurassic elasmobranch Protospinax annectans is often regarded as a key species to our understanding of crown group elasmobranch interrelationships and the evolutionary history of this group. However, since its first description more than 100 years ago, its phylogenetic position within the Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays) has proven controversial, and a closer relationship between Protospinax and each of the posited superorders (Batomorphii, Squalomorphii, and Galeomorphii) has been proposed over the time. Here we revise this controversial taxon based on new holomorphic specimens from the Late Jurassic Konservat-Lagerstätte of the Solnhofen Archipelago in Bavaria (Germany) and review its skeletal morphology, systematics, and phylogenetic interrelationships. A data matrix with 224 morphological characters was compiled and analyzed under a molecular backbone constraint. Our results indicate a close relationship between Protospinax, angel sharks (Squatiniformes), and saw sharks (Pristiophoriformes). However, the revision of our morphological data matrix within a molecular framework highlights the lack of morphological characters defining certain groups, especially sharks of the order Squaliformes, hampering the phylogenetic resolution of Protospinax annectans with certainty. Furthermore, the monophyly of modern sharks retrieved by molecular studies is only weakly supported by morphological data, stressing the need for more characters to align morphological and molecular studies in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick L. Jambura
- Department of Palaeontology, University of Vienna, Josef-Holaubek-Platz 2, 1090 Vienna, Austria
- Vienna Doctoral School of Ecology and Evolution (VDSEE), University of Vienna, Djerassiplatz 1, 1030 Vienna, Austria
- Correspondence:
| | | | - Julia Türtscher
- Department of Palaeontology, University of Vienna, Josef-Holaubek-Platz 2, 1090 Vienna, Austria
- Vienna Doctoral School of Ecology and Evolution (VDSEE), University of Vienna, Djerassiplatz 1, 1030 Vienna, Austria
| | - Arnaud Begat
- Department of Palaeontology, University of Vienna, Josef-Holaubek-Platz 2, 1090 Vienna, Austria
- Vienna Doctoral School of Ecology and Evolution (VDSEE), University of Vienna, Djerassiplatz 1, 1030 Vienna, Austria
| | - Manuel Andreas Staggl
- Department of Palaeontology, University of Vienna, Josef-Holaubek-Platz 2, 1090 Vienna, Austria
- Vienna Doctoral School of Ecology and Evolution (VDSEE), University of Vienna, Djerassiplatz 1, 1030 Vienna, Austria
| | - Sebastian Stumpf
- Department of Palaeontology, University of Vienna, Josef-Holaubek-Platz 2, 1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - René Kindlimann
- Haimuseum und Sammlung R. Kindlimann, 8607 Aathal-Seegräben, Switzerland
| | - Stefanie Klug
- School of Science (GAUSS), Georg–August Universität Göttingen, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | | | - Burkhard Pohl
- Interprospekt Group, 1724 Ferpicloz, Switzerland
- Wyoming Dinosaur Center, Thermopolis, WY 82443, USA
| | - John G. Maisey
- Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, American Natural History Museum, New York, NY 10024, USA
| | - Gavin J. P. Naylor
- Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
| | - Jürgen Kriwet
- Department of Palaeontology, University of Vienna, Josef-Holaubek-Platz 2, 1090 Vienna, Austria
- Vienna Doctoral School of Ecology and Evolution (VDSEE), University of Vienna, Djerassiplatz 1, 1030 Vienna, Austria
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Evidence for high-performance suction feeding in the Pennsylvanian stem-group holocephalan Iniopera. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2207854119. [PMID: 36649436 PMCID: PMC9942859 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2207854119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
The Carboniferous (358.9 to 298.9 Ma) saw the emergence of marine ecosystems dominated by modern vertebrate groups, including abundant stem-group holocephalans (chimaeras and relatives). Compared with the handful of anatomically conservative holocephalan genera alive today-demersal durophages all-these animals were astonishingly morphologically diverse, and bizarre anatomies in groups such as iniopterygians hint at specialized ecological roles foreshadowing those of the later, suction-feeding neopterygians. However, flattened fossils usually obscure these animals' functional morphologies and how they fitted into these important early ecosystems. Here, we use three-dimensional (3D) methods to show that the musculoskeletal anatomy of the uniquely 3D-preserved iniopterygian Iniopera can be best interpreted as being similar to that of living holocephalans rather than elasmobranchs but that it was mechanically unsuited to durophagy. Rather, Iniopera had a small, anteriorly oriented mouth aperture, expandable pharynx, and strong muscular links among the pectoral girdle, neurocranium, and ventral pharynx consistent with high-performance suction feeding, something exhibited by no living holocephalan and never clearly characterized in any of the extinct members of the holocephalan stem-group. Remarkably, in adapting a distinctly holocephalan anatomy to suction feeding, Iniopera is more comparable to modern tetrapod suction feeders than to the more closely related high-performance suction-feeding elasmobranchs. This raises questions about the assumed role of durophagy in the evolution of holocephalans' distinctive anatomy and offers a rare glimpse into the breadth of ecological niches filled by holocephalans in a pre-neopterygian world.
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One of these is not like the others. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2212339119. [PMID: 36669101 PMCID: PMC9942816 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2212339119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
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Scott BR, Brainerd EL, Wilga CAD. Long-Axis Rotation of Jaws of Bamboo Sharks ( Chiloscyllium plagiosum) During Suction Feeding. Integr Org Biol 2022; 4:obac024. [PMID: 35899093 PMCID: PMC9314715 DOI: 10.1093/iob/obac024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2022] [Revised: 05/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Synopsis
Long-axis rotation (LAR) of the jaws may be an important component of vertebrate feeding mechanisms, as it has been hypothesized to occur during prey capture or food processing across diverse vertebrate groups including mammals, ray-finned fishes, and sharks and rays. LAR can affect tooth orientation as well as muscle fiber direction and therefore muscle power during feeding. However, to date only a handful of studies have demonstrated this LAR in vivo. Here, we use XROMM to document LAR of the upper and lower jaws in white-spotted bamboo sharks, Chiloscyllium plagiosum, during suction feeding. As the lower jaw begins to depress for suction expansion, both the upper jaw (palatoquadrate) and lower jaw (Meckel's cartilage) evert, such that their toothed surfaces move laterally, and then they invert with jaw closing. Eversion has been shown to tense the dental ligament and erect the teeth in some sharks, but it is not clear how this tooth erection would contribute to suction feeding in bamboo sharks. Two recent XROMM studies have shown LAR of the lower jaws during mastication in mammals and stingrays and our study extends LAR to suction feeding and confirms its presence in shark species. Examples of LAR of the jaws are becoming increasingly widespread across vertebrates with unfused mandibular symphyses. Unfused lower jaws are the plesiomorphic condition for most vertebrate lineages and therefore LAR may be a common component of jaw mechanics unless the mandibular symphysis is fused.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bradley R Scott
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign , 61801 IL , USA
- College of the Environment and Life Sciences, University of Rhode Island , Kingston, 02881 RI , USA
| | - Elizabeth L Brainerd
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Brown University , 02912 RI , USA
| | - Cheryl A D Wilga
- College of the Environment and Life Sciences, University of Rhode Island , Kingston, 02881 RI , USA
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Dearden RP, Mansuit R, Cuckovic A, Herrel A, Didier D, Tafforeau P, Pradel A. The morphology and evolution of chondrichthyan cranial muscles: A digital dissection of the elephantfish Callorhinchus milii and the catshark Scyliorhinus canicula. J Anat 2021; 238:1082-1105. [PMID: 33415764 PMCID: PMC8053583 DOI: 10.1111/joa.13362] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2020] [Revised: 09/25/2020] [Accepted: 10/29/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The anatomy of sharks, rays, and chimaeras (chondrichthyans) is crucial to understanding the evolution of the cranial system in vertebrates due to their position as the sister group to bony fishes (osteichthyans). Strikingly different arrangements of the head in the two constituent chondrichthyan groups-holocephalans and elasmobranchs-have played a pivotal role in the formation of evolutionary hypotheses targeting major cranial structures such as the jaws and pharynx. However, despite the advent of digital dissections as a means of easily visualizing and sharing the results of anatomical studies in three dimensions, information on the musculoskeletal systems of the chondrichthyan head remains largely limited to traditional accounts, many of which are at least a century old. Here, we use synchrotron tomographic data to carry out a digital dissection of a holocephalan and an elasmobranch widely used as model species: the elephantfish, Callorhinchus milii, and the small-spotted catshark, Scyliorhinus canicula. We describe and figure the skeletal anatomy of the head, labial, mandibular, hyoid, and branchial cartilages in both taxa as well as the muscles of the head and pharynx. In Callorhinchus, we make several new observations regarding the branchial musculature, revealing several previously unreported or ambiguously characterized muscles, likely homologous to their counterparts in the elasmobranch pharynx. We also identify a previously unreported structure linking the pharyngohyal of Callorhinchus to the neurocranium. Finally, we review what is known about the evolution of chondrichthyan cranial muscles from their fossil record and discuss the implications for muscle homology and evolution, broadly concluding that the holocephalan pharynx is likely derived from a more elasmobranch-like form which is plesiomorphic for the chondrichthyan crown group. This dataset has great potential as a resource, particularly for researchers using these model species for zoological research, functional morphologists requiring models of musculature and skeletons, as well as for palaeontologists seeking comparative models for extinct taxa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard P Dearden
- CR2P, Centre de Recherche en Paléontologie-Paris, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Université, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris cedex 05, France
| | - Rohan Mansuit
- CR2P, Centre de Recherche en Paléontologie-Paris, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Université, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris cedex 05, France.,UMR 7179 (MNHN-CNRS) MECADEV, Département Adaptations du Vivant, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France
| | | | - Anthony Herrel
- UMR 7179 (MNHN-CNRS) MECADEV, Département Adaptations du Vivant, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France
| | - Dominique Didier
- Department of Biology, Millersville University, Millersville, PA, USA
| | - Paul Tafforeau
- European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Grenoble, France
| | - Alan Pradel
- CR2P, Centre de Recherche en Paléontologie-Paris, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Université, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris cedex 05, France
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Frey L, Coates MI, Tietjen K, Rücklin M, Klug C. A symmoriiform from the Late Devonian of Morocco demonstrates a derived jaw function in ancient chondrichthyans. Commun Biol 2020; 3:681. [PMID: 33203942 PMCID: PMC7672094 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-020-01394-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2020] [Accepted: 10/16/2020] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
The Palaeozoic record of chondrichthyans (sharks, rays, chimaeras, extinct relatives) and thus our knowledge of their anatomy and functional morphology is poor because of their predominantly cartilaginous skeletons. Here, we report a previously undescribed symmoriiform shark, Ferromirum oukherbouchi, from the Late Devonian of the Anti-Atlas. Computed tomography scanning reveals the undeformed shape of the jaws and hyoid arch, which are of a kind often used to represent primitive conditions for jawed vertebrates. Of critical importance, these closely fitting cartilages preclude the repeatedly hypothesized presence of a complete gill between mandibular and hyoid arches. We show that the jaw articulation is specialized and drives mandibular rotation outward when the mouth opens, and inward upon closure. The resultant eversion and inversion of the lower dentition presents a greater number of teeth to prey through the bite-cycle. This suggests an increased functional and ecomorphological disparity among chondrichthyans preceding and surviving the end-Devonian extinctions. Frey and colleagues describe a new fossil shark from the Late Devonian of Morocco in which the specialized jaw articulation is unusually well preserved. Biomechanical modelling reveals that the mandible rolled throughout its movement arc, engaging more of its tooth battery in a clutching bite action.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linda Frey
- Paläontologisches Institut und Museum, University of Zurich, Karl-Schmid-Strasse 4, CH-8006, Zürich, Switzerland.
| | - Michael I Coates
- Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, 1027 E. 57th St., Chicago, IL, 60637, USA
| | - Kristen Tietjen
- Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, 1345 Jayhawk Blvd, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA
| | - Martin Rücklin
- Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Vertebrate Evolution Development and Ecology, Postbus 9517, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Christian Klug
- Paläontologisches Institut und Museum, University of Zurich, Karl-Schmid-Strasse 4, CH-8006, Zürich, Switzerland.
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Deban SM, Holzman R, Müller UK. Suction Feeding by Small Organisms: Performance Limits in Larval Vertebrates and Carnivorous Plants. Integr Comp Biol 2020; 60:852-863. [PMID: 32658970 DOI: 10.1093/icb/icaa105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Suction feeding has evolved independently in two highly disparate animal and plant systems, aquatic vertebrates and carnivorous bladderworts. We review the suction performance of animal and plant suction feeders to explore biomechanical performance limits for aquatic feeders based on morphology and kinematics, in the context of current knowledge of suction feeding. While vertebrates have the greatest diversity and size range of suction feeders, bladderworts are the smallest and fastest known suction feeders. Body size has profound effects on aquatic organismal function, including suction feeding, particularly in the intermediate flow regime that tiny organisms can experience. A minority of tiny organisms suction feed, consistent with model predictions that generating effective suction flow is less energetically efficient and also requires more flow-rate specific power at small size. Although the speed of suction flows generally increases with body and gape size, some specialized tiny plant and animal predators generate suction flows greater than those of suction feeders 100 times larger. Bladderworts generate rapid flow via high-energy and high-power elastic recoil and suction feed for nutrients (relying on photosynthesis for energy). Small animals may be limited by available muscle energy and power, although mouth protrusion can offset the performance cost of not generating high suction pressure. We hypothesize that both the high energetic costs and high power requirements of generating rapid suction flow shape the biomechanics of small suction feeders, and that plants and animals have arrived at different solutions due in part to their different energy budgets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen M Deban
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Ave, SCA 110, Tampa, FL 33620, USA
| | - Roi Holzman
- School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel.,The Inter-University for Marine Sciences in Eilat, Israel
| | - Ulrike K Müller
- Department of Biology, California State University Fresno, Fresno, CA 93740, USA
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Frey L, Coates M, Ginter M, Hairapetian V, Rücklin M, Jerjen I, Klug C. The early elasmobranch Phoebodus: phylogenetic relationships, ecomorphology and a new time-scale for shark evolution. Proc Biol Sci 2019; 286:20191336. [PMID: 31575362 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2019.1336] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Anatomical knowledge of early chondrichthyans and estimates of their phylogeny are improving, but many taxa are still known only from microremains. The nearly cosmopolitan and regionally abundant Devonian genus Phoebodus has long been known solely from isolated teeth and fin spines. Here, we report the first skeletal remains of Phoebodus from the Famennian (Late Devonian) of the Maïder region of Morocco, revealing an anguilliform body, specialized braincase, hyoid arch, elongate jaws and rostrum, complementing its characteristic dentition and ctenacanth fin spines preceding both dorsal fins. Several of these features corroborate a likely close relationship with the Carboniferous species Thrinacodus gracia, and phylogenetic analysis places both taxa securely as members of the elasmobranch stem lineage. Identified as such, phoebodont teeth provide a plausible marker for range extension of the elasmobranchs into the Middle Devonian, thus providing a new minimum date for the origin of the chondrichthyan crown-group. Among pre-Carboniferous jawed vertebrates, the anguilliform body shape of Phoebodus is unprecedented, and its specialized anatomy is, in several respects, most easily compared with the modern frilled shark Chlamydoselachus. These results add greatly to the morphological, and by implication ecological, disparity of the earliest elasmobranchs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linda Frey
- Paläontologisches Institut und Museum, University of Zurich, Karl-Schmid-Strasse 4, 8006 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Michael Coates
- Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, 1027 E. 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Michał Ginter
- Faculty of Geology, University of Warsaw, al. Żwirki i Wigury 93, 02-089 Warszawa, Poland
| | - Vachik Hairapetian
- Department of Geology, Khorasgan Branch, Islamic Azad University, PO Box 81595-158, Esfahan, Iran
| | - Martin Rücklin
- Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Postbus 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Iwan Jerjen
- Gloor Instruments AG, Schaffhauserstrasse 121, 8302 Kloten, Switzerland
| | - Christian Klug
- Paläontologisches Institut und Museum, University of Zurich, Karl-Schmid-Strasse 4, 8006 Zürich, Switzerland
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