Prehistoric Giant Fish Was a Suspension Feeder

'Titanichthys' fed by roaming through water slowly with its mouth open wide. Mark Witton) - Scientists from the University of Zurich and the University of Bristol have investigated the jaw mechanics of Titanichthys, a giant armored fish that roamed the seas and oceans of the late Devonian period 380 million years ago. New findings suggest that it fed by swimming through water slowly with its mouth open wide to capture high concentrations of plankton - similar to modern-day basking sharks. The Moroccan part of the Sahara Desert offers many fascinating geological finds and fossils, such as the remains of the large dinosaur Spinosaurus, whose unusual crested tail recently caused quite a stir. Not far from its discovery site, much older fossils from the Devonian period can be found, including bones of placoderms - extinct armored fish that were bigger than a great white shark. "When you do field work in the Anti-Atlas, massive skull bones of placoderms can be found quite frequently," says Christian Klug, a researcher at the Paleontological Institute of the University of Zurich. "There are two distinct forms of armored fish, which were roughly the same size: The giant menacing Dunkleosteus and the 'big-mouthed' Titanichthys, which lived in the seas and oceans of the late Devonian period 380 million years ago." Working together with researchers from the University of Bristol, Klug conducted a study about the feeding habits of the armored fish Titanichthys and found a pattern consistent with modern-day sharks and whales.