Scientists have identified a new species of extinct gigantic filter feeding fish, the SUV-sized Bonnerichthys:
The fish fossils, described in the latest issue of Science, also prove that filter feeding emerged long before the first whales. For this method of eating, the diner suspends itself in the water, mouth agape. Water escapes through gill slits, leaving behind the filtered food.
It can help to have a big mouth, which many of these enormous fishes must have had.
Co-author Kenshu Shimada, a research associate in paleontology at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History, told Discovery News that one of the fish he and his colleagues identified, Bonnerichthys, grew to around 20 feet in length and swam through a seaway covering what is today the state of Kansas.
I can't get the image of the fish going "nom nom nom" outta my head. Darn the Interwebs! Link (Photo: Robert Nicholls / Paleocreations)
YES
BONUS POINTS