Strunius
Name: Strunius.
Phonetic: Stru-ne-us.
Classification: Chordata, Sarcopterygii,
Onychodontida, Onychodontidae.
Species: S. walteri
(type), S. rolandi.
Diet: Carnivore/Piscivore.
Size: About 10 centimetres long.
Known locations: Germany and Latvia.
Time period: Late Devonian.
Fossil representation: Several specimens.
Although the fins of Strunius were still supported by rays of thins spines, Strunius is still technically considered to be a lone-finned fish due to the form of the skull. The skull of Strunius was articulated with strong joints with a muscle attachment that allowed for the skull to be brought back so that it could then be released to provide more force when biting. This would have allowed the teeth of Strunius to easily penetrate the scales of the true ray-finned fish that had started to become more common by the end of the Devonian. This skull arrangement is also seen in other lobe-finned fish such as Eusthenopteron as well as coelacanth genera such as Macropoma.
More information on the above fish can be found on their corresponding pages; Ceratodus, Chinlea, Dipnorhynchus, Dipterus, Eusthenopteron, Gooloogongia, Griphognathus, Gyroptychius, Holoptychius, Hyneria, Macropoma, Mandageria, Osteolepis, Panderichthys, Rhizodus, Strunius, Tiktaalik (upper estimate).
Further reading
- A new species of Strunius(Sarcopterygii;
Onychodontida) from
Latvia; Lode quarry (Upper Devonian) - Ieva Upeniece -
1995.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Random favourites
 |
 |
 |