Found in a rock pool on the rock platform at Flat Rock yesterday …
Update from the Queensland Museum; many thanks to Jeff Johnson, manager of the Ichthyology section:
The jaw is from an eastern blue groper, Achoerodus viridis.
The large teeth in the front and rear of the jaws are used to dislodge, dismember and crush crabs, molluscs and echinoderms on which the fish feeds.
This species occurs between Hervey Bay, Qld and Wilson’s Promontery, Vic and attains at least 100 cm in total length.
I really have no idea what this belonged, too, except to guess a fish. I’ll be sending it off to the museum for ID and will update when I find out. Any ideas, anyone?
You can read about the eastern blue groper here. Despite being called a groper, it is actually a wrasse. You can read about its unusual jaw structure here.
Here is the beastie itself – impressive!
Eastern blue groper; photo by Richard Ling, Wikimedia Commons
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It certainly looks more like a big wrass than a grouper (or groper). Last summer, I found a jaw bone from a [grass?] carp and was surprised at its prominent and formitable dentition. Looks like a lower jaw bone: http://www.helbock.net/images/carp-jaw-bone.jpg.
Wow, great jaw bone. I saw wrasse on Lord Howe Island getting stuck into coral ferociously, coral flying all over the place, and thought then that they must have strong teeth at least.
Some munching, crunching wrass I filmed two weeks ago down in Florida: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVFKzAuHgEI
Great video! Yes, that’s the behaviour I saw from wrasses on Lord Howe. No wonder the reef floor is made up of lots of coral grains – come through the guts of fish.