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A monumental prehistoric salmon had tusk - like teeth that protruded from either side of its snout , a raw subject area finds .
adequate to of reaching 8.8 feet ( 2.7 m ) in length by some estimations , Oncorhynchus rastrosus , a Pacific metal money , was the magnanimous salmon ever know to inhabit — over double the size of the large Pacific Salmon River alive today , the Chinook Salmon River ( Oncorhynchus tshawytscha ) , whichtypically grows to around three substructure ( 0.9 m ) long .
Giant ‘saber-toothed salmon’ was actually more like a warthog, fossils reveal
scientist have long been intrigued byO. rastrosus‘s exceptional teeth , a physical feature reflected in the anatomy of fossilized skull . Initially , they thought the teeth curve downward like those of a saber - toothed cat , leading the vulgar name of " sabre - toothed Salmon River " to be bestowed upon the species .
However , a new study print Wednesday ( April 24 ) in the journalPLOS Oneshows that the teeth more resembled a warthog ’s tusk , projecting sideways , not down .
" [ O. rastrosushad ] these very alone lineament that do n’t live everywhere else , " survey first authorKerin Claeson , prof of anatomy at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine , tell Live Science .
Artist impression reveals the salmon’s tusks jutting out from its face.
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First name in the 1970s , O. rastrosusswam in what are now the urine of the Pacific Northwest . A 2016 paper onO. rastrosusreported that fossil escort tobetween 12 and 5 million eld ago .
O. rastrosusis a closemouthed congener — but not an ancestor — of modern Pacific salmon , especiallythe sockeye , accord to Claeson .
Like modern Chinook salmon , Claeson say , O. rastrosuswould have been bear in fresh water river and streams but spend the legal age of their lives out at sea , returning only to engender ( and in all probability die ) . But unlike Chinook salmon , whose diets primarilyconsist of other fish , these ancient Pisces the Fishes were filter feeder that dined on plankton , sucking the microscopical creatures into their mouth through sieve - like gill rakers .
By around 4.75 million years ago , O. rastrosushad gone extinct , according to Claeson . The first fossils werecollected in California and Oregon , but they were disarticulated , Claeson enjoin , meaning the tooth had separated from the rest of the skull . With no visual means of identifying the position of the teeth in the skull , investigator , knowing that forward-looking Pacific salmon have downward - facing dentition , inferredO. rastrosusdid , too .
" It was just natural to assume that when you put this [ tooth ] back into position , that ’s the arranging that it ’s pass to be , " Claeson said .
In the 2010s , scientists find grounds that challenged this assumption . During a 2014 expedition to the Gateway Quarry in Jefferson County , Oregon , crew members recovered additionalO. rastrosusfossils , admit the skulls of a manlike and female believed to have comprised a breeding duad , Claeson said . Both of these skulls differed from the other specimens in a central way : The bone of the jaw were still connect and the crabwise orientation of the tooth was visually apparent .
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When the skulls were first brought to Claeson ’s attention , she was thrown by their morphology and figure a fluke had occurred . But then , she said , " they establish more . "
CT ( computed tomography ) scans revealed specific features on the upper jaw that confirmed the tooth would have extend laterally away from the face — findings that indicate the original saber - toothed Reconstruction Period ofO. rastrosushad been flawed , consort to the study . Based on this discovery , the investigator swan thatO. rastrosusshould be rename the spike - toothed salmon .
Despite its heavy size of it , O. rastrosuswas believably a butt for contemporary carnivores , according to Claeson . An someone would have yielded " a lot of meat , " she said . While the exact purpose of the tooth is not clear , they may have helpedO. rastrosusdefend against piranha , compete with rivals and/or dig nest in the riverbed , according to the study . Claeson hopes to examine the teeth themselves for patterns of wearable that could indicate what just they were used for .
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