Scottish Salmon is the top food export in the UK and is reared in farms. A few million years ago, however, the prehistoric salmon that swam around the Pacific Northwest of North America was a much fiercer beast.

Oncorhynchus rastrosus, was a giant species of salmon with two front teeth that projected out from the sides of its mouth like tusks. It is estimated to have been  2.7 meters (8.9 feet) long.

Kerin Claeson, professor of anatomy at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, explained:

“We have known for decades that these extinct salmon from Central Oregon were the largest to ever live. Discoveries like ours show they probably weren’t gentle giants. These massive spikes at the tip of their snouts would have been useful to defend against predators, compete against other salmon, and ultimately build the nests where they would incubate their eggs.”

The researchers believe the tusk like teeth were used for fighting. Another suggestion was that they were used as a tool for digging out nests. Oncorhynchus rastrosus is believed to have been a filter-feeder that dined on plankton so that teeth would not have been used to catch prey..

Edward Davis, associate professor of earth sciences at the University of Oregon and director of Condon Collection at the UO’s Museum of Natural and Cultural History, said:

“I’m delighted that we have been able to put a new face on the giant spike-tooth salmon, bringing knowledge from the field in Oregon to the world.”

Brian Sidlauskas, professor and curator of fishes at Oregon State University, added:

“We also stress that females and males alike possessed the enormous, tusk-like teeth. Therefore, the sexes were equally fearsome.”

Click on this link to access: From sabers to spikes: A newfangled reconstruction of the ancient, giant, sexually dimorphic Pacific salmon, †Oncorhynchus rastrosus (SALMONINAE: SALMONINI), published in PLoS ONE.