According to the New York Times, jawless fish may have died off for reasons other than not being efficient predators. Jaws first appeared on fish around 420 million years ago. Prior to this, fish sucked their prey through their mouths. Today, however, only two types of jawless fish remain, lampreys and hagfish. A study that was performed shows that jawless fish coexisted with jawed fish for 10 to 20 million years. This lead them to question whether competition was the downfall of jawless fish. Dr. Philip Anderson, an evolutionary paleobiologist at the University of Bristol in England, studies fossils to research jaws. He found that 10 million years after the first jawed fish appeared, there were a variety of distinct jaws. Slender jaws for capturing, and thick and robust jaws for power appeared amongst others. A study suggests that perhaps jawless fish utilized different resources to survive longer. Although, no definitive answer is known right now, the scientists firmly believe that competition with jawed fish is not the key reason for their demise.
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