Ok, the saber toothed thing might be predictable by now, but who was expecting a Saber Toothed Salmon?
And, since I said something about it yesterday, I have a little bit of support for the University of Oregon Ducks because they are the notable people studying this surprising fish.
And now I have a bit of a confession to make. The saber toothed salmon had some later skeletal discoveries that were more intact than the first and they realized that the teeth were actually in the wrong spot, and instead should be pointed straight out, making it a spike-tooth instead of saber.
So, the fish apparently grew to about 8 and a half feet long and swam around the Pacific Northwest of the United States (where I live) around 5 million years ago, making them both larger and more recent than the anchovy from yesterday. The first skeleton found had a crushed skull, which they had to reconstruct, and that's part of why they got the saber/spike tooth wrong, but they later got some skeletons that weren't crushed and showed how the teeth were supposed to be.
Despite not having much to compare it to among living specimens, again, they think that the spikes on the sides of their head could be used to deter predators, compete against other salmon, build a nest for their eggs, and keep those eggs safe. So, possibly very useful, unlike some other evolutionary ideas.
These fish died out as the oceans cooled, so it's entirely possible that they'll come back with the current warming trend. It'll take a while, but it's possible.
This picture comes from the Museum of Natural and Cultural History, which has the new version of the fish for the model, but the old version for the painting. It was kept to prove that science is always growing and changing and can be wrong--though I would suggest not relying on that if you can help it, because you might not be right about what science is wrong about and that could go very bad.
So, that's the Saber/Spike Toothed Salmon. Isn't it cool? If you want to know more, there are sources below you can use or you are welcome to look it up elsewhere. I hope you find it as cool as I do though, and maybe throw a cheer towards the University of Oregon next time they're up, just for being the ones to not only tell us about the Saber Toothed Salmon, but also readily admitting when they were wrong, instead of trying to hide it for ego reasons. That's almost as awesome of them as bringing us the fish in the first place.
Sources:
University of Oregon-- Saber Toothed to Spike Toothed
Smithsonian-- These Massive Salmon had Spiky Teeth
KLCC News-- Eugene Museum gets a Spike Toothed Salmon Skull
National Geographic-- Saber Toothed Salmon
Sci News-- Ancient Saber Toothed Salmon
Live Science-- Giant Prehistoric Salmon had Spike Teeth
University of Oregon-- Fossil Finds Yield a Surprise About the Saber Toothed Salmon
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