By AD CRABLE | Staff WriterThe photo of a mystery part of a creature that plies Lancaster County stumped most of you.
Most guesses were of the skull of some type of bird. An eagle got the most responses. Other guesses included the ossified skull of a baby bird, turkey, owl and red-tailed hawk.
Other guesses included the skull of a beaver, an alpaca jaw and the jaw of a snapping turtle.
Two sharp observers, John D. Laskowski and Ray Bleistine, weighed in with the correct answer: the pharyngeal teeth of the common carp.
The carp doesn’t have teeth in its jaw but rather its gills. The teeth allow the fish to make chewing motions against a chewing plate formed by a bony process of the skull. It allows carp to eat hard baits like snails and bivalves.
Thanks to Stephen Mohr of Bainbridge for providing the stumper.
