Functional Morphology of the Feeding Apparatus of the Snaggletooth Shark, Hemipristis elongata (Carcharhiniformes: Hemigaleidae).

Abstract

The anatomy of the feeding apparatus of the snaggletooth shark, Hemipristis elongata (Klunzinger, 1871) is illustrated in detail from the dissection of three heads. Two new muscles are described: the Adductor mandibularis internus and the Levator mandibularis. A subdivision of the Levator palatoquadrati is described and named the Pronator subdivision of the Levator palatoquadrati. Also, eight new anatomical features associated with the mandibular arch and with the chondrocranium (CR) are described. Three are cartilages: the suprapalatine cartilages, the craniopalatoquadrate cartilage and the calcified Meckelian dental fold. The remaining five features are processes: the Pronator process of the palatoquadrate (PQ), the Levator palatoquadrati alpha process, the proquadrate process, the ectorbital process (ECP) and the Meckelian Intermandibularis ridge. Some of them are not restricted to H.elongata. The function of these new muscles and anatomical features is discussed and a hypothesis about the functional morphology of the feeding apparatus of the snaggletooth shark is proposed. The extent and the assumptive importance of the pronation of the mandibular arch in the snaggletooth shark feeding behaviour is described and discussed. An alternative for the main function of the Levator palatoquadrati as hypothesized by Motta et al. (1997) and Wilga et al. (2001) is proposed for the families Hemigaleidae, Carcharhinidae and Sphyrnidae. We anticipate this muscle is more involved in the pronation rather than in the protrusion of the mandibular arch.