A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Aplodinotus grunniens
The freshwater drum is a fish endemic to North and Central America. It is the only species in the genus Aplodinotus. The freshwater drum is a member of the family Sciaenidae, and is the only member of the group that inhabits freshwater for its entire life. (information from Wikipedia) ------------------------------------------------------------- Pharyngeal "throat" teeth are located on the last gill arch at the posterior region of a fish's head. They are visible only upon lifing off the gill cover (operculum) and exposing the gills beneath. The arrangement and number of these teeth are specific for certain families and species of fish. (information from http://www.sciencebuzz.org/museum/object...)
This item was found by someone along the Arkansas River in Tulsa, OK. It was a mystery that we got to solve by asking biologist friends via the Web. I was quite surprised to find out that it belonged to a fish!
Spotted on Sep 22, 2010
Submitted on Jun 22, 2012
8 Comments
Thanks for the Info Aaron, I would've never guessed.
Awesome creature !
Yes, I "liked" that spotting too.
KarenL also has a spotting of this item from Alabama. Check it out:
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/913...
wow!quite an arrangement of teeth!
For the shear amazingness of nature and natural selection, I think this should get a SOTD.
Yes, they seem to be located deep into the mouth and are used to crush shells of mussels. I like how you can see various degrees of wear on the individual teeth.
Amazing pictures. These are in the fish's throat?