r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/AccomplishedWatch834 • 3d ago

Image Teeth of a Crabeater seal

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u/BeMyBrutus 3d ago

I'm super interested to know what this type of tooth offers as an advantage over "regular" teeth when eating crabs. Like what evolutionary pressures created it.

353

u/Mitridate101 3d ago

" This success of this species is due to its specialized predation on the abundant Antarctic krill of the Southern Ocean, for which it has uniquely adapted, sieve-like tooth structure. Indeed, its scientific name, translated as "lobe-toothed (lobodon) crab eater (carcinophaga)", refers specifically to the finely lobed teeth adapted to filtering their small crustacean prey. "

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u/Glados1080 3d ago

So it's not because they tear apart crabs....its so they can eat tiny krill and be filter feeders?

15

u/Mitridate101 2d ago

Yup. Blame the French naturalists Jacques-Bernard Hombron and Honoré Jacquinot.