IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v395y1998i6701d10.1038_26649.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Stingray jaws strut their stuff

Author

Listed:
  • Adam P. Summers

    (Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Program, University of Massachusetts at Amherst)

  • Thomas J. Koob

    (Shriner's Hospital for Children)

  • Elizabeth L. Brainerd

    (Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Program, University of Massachusetts at Amherst)

Abstract

The cartilaginous skeleton of sharks and rays imposes functional limitations that are not seen in bony fishes. Cartilage is less dense than bone, which helps chondrichthyan (cartilaginous) fishes maintain near neutral buoyancy, but cartilage is also less stiff and strong than bone. Nevertheless, some stingrays routinely use their cartilaginous jaws and pavement-like dentition to crush hard prey, such as snails and mussels1. We have studied the cownose ray, Rhinoptera bonasus, to investigate how cartilaginous jaws can be used to crush hard-shelled prey. The jaws are composed of ‘trabecular cartilage’, a material that is structurally and functionally convergent with the trabecular bone found in osteichthyan (bony) fishes and tetrapods.

Suggested Citation

  • Adam P. Summers & Thomas J. Koob & Elizabeth L. Brainerd, 1998. "Stingray jaws strut their stuff," Nature, Nature, vol. 395(6701), pages 450-451, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:395:y:1998:i:6701:d:10.1038_26649
    DOI: 10.1038/26649
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/26649
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/26649?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:395:y:1998:i:6701:d:10.1038_26649. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.