Stethacanthus a.k.a. the ‘Anvil Shark’ and ‘Ironing Board Shark’

Stef-ah-can-thus.

By Cassidy Wood

Published on June 2, 2013

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Name

Stethacanthus (Chest spine).

Phonetic

Stef-ah-can-thus.

Named By

John Strong Newberry - 1889.

Classification

Chordata, Chondrichthyes, Elasmobranchii, Symmoriida, Stethacanthidae.

Diet

Carnivore.

Species

S. altonensis, S. concavus, S. productus, S. praecursor, S. mirabilis, S. resistens, S. thomasi.

Size

Approximately 70 centimetres long.

Known locations

China, Europe, North America and Russia.

Time Period

Late Devonian.

Fossil representation

Many specimens making Stethacanthus one of the best represented of early shark.

In Depth

– Carboniferous fishes from the central western States – Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 39:163-226 – C. R. Eastman – 1903. – Two new Stethacanthid sharks (Stethacanthidae, Symmoriida) from the Pennsylvanian of Indiana, USA – Palaeontographica Abteilung A 213:115-141 – R. Zangerl – 1990. – Early Carboniferous Fishes (Acanthodian, Actinopterygians, and Chondrichthyes) from the East Sector of North Qilian Mountain, China – Vertebrata PalAsiatica 42(2):89-110 – N. Wang, J. Fan & W. Wang – 2004.- Symmoriiform sharks from the Pennsylvanian of Nebraska. – Acta Geologica Polonica. 68 (3): 391–401. – Michał Ginter – 2018.

SPECIES SPOTLIGHT

Stethacanthus a.k.a. the ‘Anvil Shark’ and ‘Ironing Board Shark’

In Depth

Further Reading