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Oi time for #GuessTheSkull! 
The weekly twitter game where I show you a skull and you tell me what animal it is!
2020 has been tough & the beginning of next year will be too. So this week's #Skull I bring you a strong upstream champ to keep us motivated.. just keep swimming
The weekly twitter game where I show you a skull and you tell me what animal it is!
2020 has been tough & the beginning of next year will be too. So this week's #Skull I bring you a strong upstream champ to keep us motivated.. just keep swimming
Oh hey the first #FossilFriday & #GuessTheSkull reveal of 2020!
Did you guess a MALE Sockeye Salmon-Oncorhynchus nerka. Also just salmon also counts!
The one below is from the Pleistocene, but the modern ones are just as gnarly, they are survivors!
John Fam @burkemuseum
Did you guess a MALE Sockeye Salmon-Oncorhynchus nerka. Also just salmon also counts!
The one below is from the Pleistocene, but the modern ones are just as gnarly, they are survivors!
John Fam @burkemuseum
Many Pleistocene specimens have enlarged breeding teeth and worn caudal fins, meaning it is likely that these salmon acted very similar to their modern counterparts!
OKAY OKAY ...ILL TELL YOU WHATS UP WITH THEIR FACE!! ... but you wont like it..
TDLR- insano late puberty makes the males grow a 'kype'
TDLR- insano late puberty makes the males grow a 'kype'
So basically when salmon return to their home rivers to spawn both sexes go through some serious bone transformation. I mean serious..
they reabsorb bone from the bases of their teeth and their vertebrae and stop feeding. All their reserves go to migration and competition.
they reabsorb bone from the bases of their teeth and their vertebrae and stop feeding. All their reserves go to migration and competition.
So remember salmon are living a starved and tough life at this point.
So WHY does it make sense to completely replace your feeding teeth with massive gnarly breeding teeth?!!
If you are not eating anyways, but need to defend breeding ground it makes sense.
So WHY does it make sense to completely replace your feeding teeth with massive gnarly breeding teeth?!!
If you are not eating anyways, but need to defend breeding ground it makes sense.
Oh... yeah they also SUPER demineralize their skull parts and scales and most of their backbone to GO ALL IN on this breeding strategy.
Oh let me recycle my parts for dating season.. wtf salmon.
Oh let me recycle my parts for dating season.. wtf salmon.
The actual function of the 'kype' is debated. The hooked mouth seems to stop the use of the 'breeding teeth' due to the curvature of the bone. Most scientists agree it's something to do with establishing a hierarchy among males
Still can't save you from bears tho..
Still can't save you from bears tho..
ANYWAYS this actually relates to my PhD work for once
The type of bone that Salmon grow to make the 'kype' is interesting to us bone nerds because it doesn't neatly fall into established bone types. Instead it combines characteristics of two bone types
Why can't you be normal.
The type of bone that Salmon grow to make the 'kype' is interesting to us bone nerds because it doesn't neatly fall into established bone types. Instead it combines characteristics of two bone types
Why can't you be normal.
So yeah.. fish with insane 'sexy' bone growths on their face. damn fish.
