A couple of weeks ago I saw some white objects by an uptake for our mechanical filtration. I had turned the pump off to feed our pacu. Three teeth...
A little online research revealed that pacu are polyphyodonts, continually replacing teeth. They tend to simultaneously lose and replace all teeth in rows on one side of their jaw. New well formed teeth grow under the old ones and replace the old teeth. Note how the these old pacu teeth are just hollow shells...so similar to primary teeth in humans that get pushed out by the errupting permanent teeth underneath them. Our pacu are over 20 years old..good to know I don't have to worry about their teeth...
All these years, we had never seen any shed teeth because the mechanical filtration picks them up. It just happened that the filtration was off when the teeth were shed.
Pacu teeth are not visible, as their lips cover them up. I did find out who had just shed the teeth, as one tooth had not yet fallen out
Years ago, we did see Leonardo's lower incisors when he tore off his lower lip slamming into a tank lid that was left ajar. Very fortunately, his lower lip completely regenerated as you can see in the above picture.
A little online research revealed that pacu are polyphyodonts, continually replacing teeth. They tend to simultaneously lose and replace all teeth in rows on one side of their jaw. New well formed teeth grow under the old ones and replace the old teeth. Note how the these old pacu teeth are just hollow shells...so similar to primary teeth in humans that get pushed out by the errupting permanent teeth underneath them. Our pacu are over 20 years old..good to know I don't have to worry about their teeth...
Pacu teeth are not visible, as their lips cover them up. I did find out who had just shed the teeth, as one tooth had not yet fallen out
Years ago, we did see Leonardo's lower incisors when he tore off his lower lip slamming into a tank lid that was left ajar. Very fortunately, his lower lip completely regenerated as you can see in the above picture.
