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The pharyngeal jaws of most fishes are not mobile. The pharyngeal jaws of the moray are highly mobile, perhaps as an adaptation to the constricted nature of the burrows they inhabit which inhibits their ability to swallow as other fishes do by creating a negative pressure in the mouth. Instead, when the moray bites prey, it first bites normally ...
Most fish species with pharyngeal teeth do not have extendable pharyngeal jaws. A particularly notable exception is the highly mobile pharyngeal jaw of the moray eels.These are possibly a response to their inability to swallow as other fishes do by creating a negative pressure in the mouth, perhaps induced by their restricted environmental niche (burrows) or in the air in the intertidal zone. [10]
The pharyngeal jaws of the moray eel (family Muraenidae) possess their own set of teeth. The dentary of the ghost knifefish species Sternarchogiton nattereri (family Apteronotidae ) has upper and lower pharyngeal tooth plates bearing 9–11 and 7–9 teeth, respectively.
Moray eels are the only known animals that use pharyngeal jaws to actively capture and restrain prey in this way. [7] [8] [9] Moray eel jaw anatomy. In addition to the presence of pharyngeal jaws, morays' mouth openings extend far back into the head, compared to fish which feed using suction.
The base of the lower pharyngeal jaws is formed by the fifth ceratobranchials while the second, third and fourth pharyngobranchials create the base of the upper. In the more basal teleosts the pharyngeal jaws consist of well-separated thin parts that attach to the neurocranium, pectoral girdle, and hyoid bar. Their function is limited to merely ...
The branchial system is typically used for respiration and/or feeding. Many fish have modified posterior gill arches into pharyngeal jaws, often equipped with specialized pharyngeal teeth for handling particular prey items (long, sharp teeth in carnivorous moray eels compared to broad, crushing teeth in durophagous black carp).
As in most vertebrates, fish jaws are bony or cartilaginous and oppose vertically, comprising an upper jaw and a lower jaw. The jaw is derived from the most anterior two pharyngeal arches supporting the gills, and usually bears numerous teeth. The skull of the last common ancestor of today's jawed vertebrates is assumed to have resembled sharks ...
Halfbeaks are one of several fish families that lack a stomach, all of which possess a pharyngeal jaw apparatus (pharyngeal mill). [7] Most species have an extended lower jaw, at least as juveniles, though this feature may be lost as the fish mature, as with Chriodorus , for example.