Why Big Fish Died Off 65 MILLION Years Ago

March 28th, 2009

Amazing that there was an Earth that long ago. Seriously, I thought it was like 6,000 years old. Amazing. This must be false.

Large size and a fast bite spelled doom for bony fishes during the last mass extinction 65 million years ago, according to a new study.

“The same thing is happening today to ecologically similar fishes,” he said. “The hardest hit species are consistently big predators.”

Studies of modern fishes demonstrate that large body size is linked to large prey size and low rates of population growth, while fast-closing jaws appear to be adaptations for capturing agile, evasive prey—in other words, other fishes. The fossil record provides some remarkable evidence supporting these estimates of function: fossil fishes with preserved stomach contents that record their last meals.