In Depth Oligolactoria was a genus of boxfish that seems to show a resemblance to the modern genus Lactoria. Like modern Lactoria box fish, Oligolactoria was a probably a reef fish. Further Reading - A New Genus and Species of Boxfish (Tetraodontiformes: Ostraciidae) from the Oligocene of Moravia, the Second Fossil Representative of the Family. … Read more
In Depth Originally assigned to the genus Clupea (better known as herrings) as Clupea sprattiformis by Blainville in 1818, the species was actually erected to its own genus level in 1974 by Nybelin. Leptolepides were fairly small fish but are among the most numerous known from the Solnhofen limestones of Germany. Aside from being similar … Read more
In Depth Many prehistoric sharks look just plain weird, and Bandringa is certainly no exception. The immediate stand out feature of this shark is the long spoonbill shaped snout that accounts for a good portion of the sharks total length. Some fish we know today do have such a snout, and they use it for … Read more
In Depth Originally listed as a species of Dipnorhynchus, Westollrhynchus was described as a distinct genus of sarcopterygiian fish in 2001. Further Reading - A Primitive Dipnoan Fish from the Lower Devonian of Germany. - W. Lehmann & T. S. Westoll - 1952. - Melanognathus, a Primitive Dipnoan from the Lower Devonian of the Canadian … Read more
In Depth First considered to be a weejasperaspid acanthothoracid placoderm, studies of the braincase indicate that Brindabellaspis may have been fairly close to the ancestral form all the placoderm fish that appeared after it. Further Reading - A new Early Devonian placoderm from New South Wales, Australia, with a discussion of placoderm phylogeny. - Palaeontographica … Read more
In Depth Bianchengichthys is a genus of placoderm fish that lived during the Silurian. At the time of its description the genus got a lot of attention because the genus is considered to be close to what we would expect the ancestral link between bony placoderm fish and modern fish forms to have looked like. … Read more
In Depth Originally described as a species of the genus Ctenurella in 1977, Austroptyctodus was established as a distinct genus in 1997, mainly upon differences in the pattern of the skull roof. A specimen of Austroptyctodus has been found with three unborn embryos inside of it, clearly showing that Austroptyctodus bore live young as opposed … Read more
In Depth In the simplest terms, Aspidorhynchus was very similar to the modern day gar (a.k.a. garpike) fish that inhabit Central and North America as well as the Caribbean, and are noted for being very successful predators. The body is very long and slender with fairly small fins for the size but a fairly well-developed … Read more
In Depth At first glance Entelognathus resembled a placoderm fish, yet at the time of the initial description in 2013, the jaw structure of Entelognathus is the earliest known example of a modern jaw structure in the fossil record. It is still unknown exactly how Entelognathus fits in evolutionary (if at all) to later fish … Read more
In Depth The Gogo Formation of Australia is easily one of the most important areas in the world concerning the study of Devonian era fish, and of these the genus Materpiscis is one of the most significant. The reason for this is that the holotype specimen of Materpiscis is a pregnant female with a single … Read more