Megalichthys hibberti Agassiz, 1835
Systematics: Tetrapodomorpha Megalichthyiformes Megalichtyidae
Size: 1.5 m long
Type Horizon and Locality: Early Carboniferous, Coal Measures Supergroup, Visean, Yorkshire Coalfield,Yorkshire, England, UK
Type Specimen: Leeds Museum specimen, 3D preserved articulated skull and scales.
Megalichthys ("big fish") was one of the largest freshwater fish of its time. Like the related Osteolepis, it is lobe-finned fish belonging to a clade close to the ancestry of tetrapods. The neotype specimen is an exquisitely preserved 3D specimen in ventral position from the Leeds Museum, discovered in the Yorkshire Coalfield during the nineteenth century.
September 5, 2021
References:
Wellburn, E. D. (1900, January). On the Genus Megalichthys, Agassiz: Its History, Systematic Position, and Structure. In Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological and Polytechnic Society (Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 52-71). Geological Society of London.
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