Mollusk mouths weren't all that fierce
Thursday, August 23, 2012 - 14:30
in Paleontology & Archaeology
The inside of a mollusk's mouth is a fearsome sight to behold. Most mollusks, from giant squids to predatory slugs, have radulas, or tonguelike structures covered with interlocking teeth that move like a conveyor belt to slice and steer prey down the throat. But a new analysis of 500-million-year-old fossils suggests that the earliest radulas were used merely to slurp up mud-covered food from the seafloor.