Cobelodus

Name: Cobelodus
Phonetic: Co-be-lo-dus.
Named By: Zangerl‭ ‬-‭ ‬1973.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Chondrichthyes,‭ ‬Elasmobranchii,‭ ‬Symmoriida,‭ ‬Symmoriidae.
Species: C.‭ ‬obliquus.
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Up to 2‭ ‬meters long.
Known locations: USA,‭ ‬Illinois,‭ ‬Iowa.
Time period: Late Carboniferous.
Fossil representation: Many specimens.

       With a bulbous head,‭ ‬strongly arched back and dorsal fin that was so far back it sat near above the pelvic fins,‭ ‬Cobelodus was not a shark that was built for speed.‭ ‬Instead it may have cruised around near the bottom hunting for crustaceans and other invertebrates that did not require active pursuit.‭
       The pectoral fins are two thirty centimetre appendages that trail from the pectoral fins.‭ ‬These appear to have been made out of cartilage and were flexible enough to be moved.‭ ‬Whether these appendages were for signalling and display,‭ ‬or even‭ '‬feeling‭' ‬for prey items,‭ ‬we just don't know.

Further reading
- Chondrichthyes I: Paleozoic Elasmobranchii, by R. Zangerl - In, Handbook of Paleoichthyology, H. P. Schultze [ed]. - 1981.
- Early Permian chondrichthyans of the middle and south Urals. - Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia 8(2):127-138. - A. Ivanov - 2005.

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