A classic key innovation constrains oral jaw functional diversification in fishes

Modifications to the pharyngeal jaws – a prey processing system located posterior to the mouth cavity – are widely considered a key innovation that enhanced diversification within several prominent fish clades. Seen in cichlids, damselfishes, wrasses, and a few other lineages, these musculoskeletal alterations are believed to increase the evolutionary independence, and thus the diversification of the oral and pharyngeal jaw systems. To test this classic hypothesis, we conducted comparative phylogenetic analyses to assess the effect of the pharyngeal novelty on the diversification of feeding morphology and kinematics across a taxonomically diverse sample of spiny-rayed fishes. We quantified movements of the oral jaws and other craniofacial structures from 689 suction feeding strikes using high speed videos collected from 228 species with and without the pharyngeal jaw novelty. Contradicting long-held predictions, we find significantly greater disparity across all traits and faster rates ..., Feeding videos & morphometric data
Totaling 689 feeding strikes, this dataset spans a wide swath of the diversity of suction feeding motions in spiny-rayed fishes (Acanthomorpha; Supplemental Table 1). Specimens of 133 and 95 species with and without modified pharyngeal jaws, respectively (Supplemental Table 2), were obtained from commercial sources and housed in laboratory aquaria at room temperature where they were filmed feeding on mobile prey. We sampled a total of 43 acanthomorph families, including wrasses and parrotfishes (Labridae including Scaridae), damselfishes (Pomacentridae), the only false scorpionfish (Centrogenyidae), and cichlids (Cichlidae) to represent four of the seven clades in which all known species exhibit a modified pharyngeal jaw (Figure 1B).
Though our sampling of MPJ fishes does not include surfperch (Embiotocidae), halfbeaks (Hemiramphidae), or flying fishes (Exocoetidae), previous work exploring the ecomorphological diversity in six taxon-rich MPJ famil..., , # Data from: A classic key innovation constrains oral jaw functional diversification in fishes

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.gmsbcc2x4](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.gmsbcc2x4)

## Description of the data and file structure

***Feeding videos & morphometric data***

Totaling 689 feeding strikes, this dataset spans a wide swath of the diversity of suction feeding motions in spiny-rayed fishes (Acanthomorpha; Supplemental Table 1). Specimens of 133 and 95 species with and without modified pharyngeal jaws, respectively (Supplemental Table 2), were obtained from commercial sources and housed in laboratory aquaria at room temperature where they were filmed feeding on mobile prey. We sampled a total of 43 acanthomorph families, including wrasses and parrotfishes (Labridae including Scaridae), damselfishes (Pomacentridae), the only false scorpionfish (Centrogenyidae), and cichlids (Cichlidae) to represent four of the seven clades in which all known species exhibit a modified pharyngeal j...