Tanyrhinichthys mcallisteri Gottfried, 1987
Systematics: Actinopterygii
Size: 15 cm
Type Horizon and Locality: Upper Pennsylvanian, Tinajas Member, Atrasado Formation (Missourian), Bernalillo County, New Mexico, US
Type Specimen: KUVP 83503, nearly complete articulated specimen
This Carboniferous ray-finned fish was originally thought to be an ambush predator akin to modern pikes. A recent study shows that it was a bottom-dweller instead occupying the ecological niche of modern sturgeons. It was however neither related to sturgeons nor to pikes, superficial similarities to the former being an effect of convergent evolution.
June 22, 2020
References:
Gottfried, M. D. (1987). A new long-snouted actinopterygian fish from the Pennsylvanian of north-central New Mexico. New Mexico Journal of Science, 27(1), 7.
Stack, J., Hodnett, J.-P., Lucas S. G. and Sallan, L. (2020) Tanyrhinichthys mcallisteri, a long-rostrumed Pennsylvanian ray-finned fish (Actinopterygii) and the simultaneous appearance of novel ecomorphologies in Late Palaeozoic fishes. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
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