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| Titanichthys sp.
in Coatham, Vinther, Rayfield & Klug, 2020.
DOI: 10.1098/rsos.200272
Illustration: Mark Witton
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Abstract
Large nektonic suspension feeders have evolved multiple times. The apparent trend among apex predators for some evolving into feeding on small zooplankton is of interest for understanding the associated shifts in anatomy and behaviour, while the spatial and temporal distribution gives clues to an inherent relationship with ocean primary productivity and how past and future perturbations to these may impact on the different tiers of the food web. The evolution of large nektonic suspension feeders—‘gentle giants’—occurred four times among chondrichthyan fishes (e.g. whale sharks, basking sharks and manta rays), as well as in baleen whales (mysticetes), the Mesozoic pachycormid fishes and at least twice in radiodontan stem group arthropods (Anomalocaridids) during the Cambrian explosion. The Late Devonian placoderm Titanichthys has tentatively been considered to have been a megaplanktivore, primarily due to its gigantic size and narrow, edentulous jaws while no suspension-feeding apparatus have ever been reported. Here, the potential for microphagy and other feeding behaviours in Titanichthys is assessed via a comparative study of jaw mechanics in Titanichthys and other placoderms with presumably differing feeding habits (macrophagy and durophagy). Finite-element models of the lower jaws of Titanichthys termieri in comparison to Dunkleosteus terrelli and Tafilalichthys lavocati reveal considerably less resistance to von Mises stress in this taxon. Comparisons with a selection of large-bodied extant taxa of similar ecological diversity reveal similar disparities in jaw stress resistance. Our results, therefore, conform to the hypothesis that Titanichthys was a suspension feeder with jaws ill-suited for biting and crushing but well suited for gaping ram feeding.
Keywords: suspension feeding, Devonian, Arthrodira, Titanichthys, comparative biomechanics
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| Figure 1. Left inferognathal of Titanichthys termieri (PIMUZ A/I 4716), from the Southern Maïder basin, Morocco. The specimen is nearly complete, excluding the anteriormost tip. The inferognathal lacks both dentition and shearing surfaces. It has been glued together where fractures occurred. Photographed at the University of Zurich. Total length = 96 cm. |
Conclusion:
FEA of the lower jaw of Titanichthys revealed that it was significantly less resistant to von Mises stress than those of related arthrodires that used macrophagous feeding strategies. This suggests that these strategies would not have been viable for Titanichthys, as its jaw would have been insufficiently mechanically robust. Consequently, it is highly likely that Titanichthys was a suspension feeder—a feeding method that is likely to exert considerably less stress on the jaw than macrophagous feeding modes. The validity of assigning suspension feeding based on jaw mechanical resilience is supported by the roughly equivalent patterns known from lineages containing extant suspension feeders.
Common morphological trends in the convergent evolution of megaplanktivores can not only be observed but quantified mechanically using FEA. A variety of methods were used to compare between the jaw models, due to imperfections with solely comparing visually or using average stress. The intervals method grouped feeding strategies to an extent, providing an additional perspective.
Tafilalichthys, probably a member of the Mylostomatidae and, therefore, one of Titanichthys' closest relatives, appears to have been durophagous. Durophagy is the likely feeding mode of all crown-group mylostomatids except Titanichthys, suggesting that it evolved from a durophagous ancestor. This durophage-to-planktivore transition is surprisingly common among convergently evolved giant suspension feeders: it is also seen in multiple, independently evolved planktivorous elasmobranch lineages.
The presence of a megaplanktivore in the Famennian supports the theory that productivity was high in the Late Devonian, which was probably a result of increased eutrophication caused by the diversification of terrestrial tracheophytes and the advent of arborescence. It reflects the link between the increasing complexity of Devonian marine ecosystems and the functional diversity of Arthrodira, which occupied a wide range of ecological niches. Most significantly, it reveals that vertebrate megaplanktivores probably existed over 150 Ma prior to the Mesozoic pachycormids, previously considered the earliest definitive giant suspension feeders.
Samuel J. Coatham, Jakob Vinther, Emily J. Rayfield and Christian Klug. 2020. Was the Devonian Placoderm Titanichthys A Suspension Feeder? Royal Society Open Science. DOI: 10.1098/rsos.200272
Ancient giant armored fish fed in a similar way to basking sharks