Matt Kolmann

Matt Kolmann

Toronto, Ontario

University of Toronto, Royal Ontario Museum

PhD Candidate

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Published on Nov 03, 2016

Our first paper on chewing in floppy-jawed critters is out!

So our first paper on insect-feeding in stingrays was released in Proceedings of the Royal Society: Part B and it got a lot of press. Science: http://www.sciencemag.org/news...National Geographic: ...

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Published on Jul 15, 2016

A hearty thanks from a floppy-jawed-fish zoologist

Hi all,Thank you all so much for donating to the project - in grad school one rarely gets much positive feedback, at least under the deluge of negative reviews, extensive edits, and advisor 'feedba...

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Published on Jun 28, 2016

So what about rays that feed on mollusks?

Someone recently asked me how I might go about studying the jaws of freshwater rays which consume hard prey - well my beginning interests were in these sorts of things - (turns out, I really like s...

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I wonder if that's why the have an electric organ in their tails? as a decoy?
Nov 10, 2016
Tooth plates in chimaeras and their relationship to teeth in sharks
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nice!!!
Nov 10, 2016
Tooth plates in chimaeras and their relationship to teeth in sharks
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There is absolutely no homologous structure in our jaws. Or the jaws of anything else we're aware of (stay tuned with regards to that sentiment!) - although the ligament in which the angular cartilage develops is present in all sharks and rays. Our lower jaw is composed mostly of a single bone, the dentary (mandible), which forms (ossifies) around the 'original' lower jaw skeleton - the Meckel's cartilage. The Meckel's cartilage is what forms the lower jaw in sharks, rays, and ratfishes, and in bony fishes is replaced by dermal bone - essentially big bony scales which make up the majority of the skull as we think of it commonly.
Nov 03, 2016
Eating tough stuff with floppy jaws - how do freshwater rays eat crabs, insects, and mollusks?
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