Feeding experiments with Senegal bichir Polypterus senegalus provide evidence for diet-related tooth damage and dental microwear

Feeding Polypterus senegalus four diets for 1–3 months shows diet-linked tooth tip damage and dental microwear, with loaches causing larger damage and long scratches.

• Why it matters: Dental microwear is used to infer jaw motion and diet, but controlled diet–microwear experiments are scarce for most fishes beyond one derived teleost.
• What they did: In a second feeding experiment, individuals were given loaches, shrimp, pellets, or mealworms for one, two, or three months, then tooth tip damage and linear microwear scratches were measured.
• The result: Shrimp and mealworms produced short scratches, while pellets and loaches produced long scratches; most teeth showed apical tip damage despite an enameloid acrodin cap, supporting a diet–damage–microwear framework for non-durophagous fishes.

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