Great white-shark-sized ancient fish discovered by accident from fossilized lung
By Harry Baker - Staff Writer 6 hours ago
It belongs to the mysterious coelacanth family of fishes.
An example of what a complete fish fossil coelacanth looks like. (Image credit: University of Portsmouth)
A 66 million-year-old fossilized lung from a previously unknown species of ancient fish, as large as a great white shark, has recently been uncovered in Morocco.
Researchers believe the fish was a much larger member of the coelacanths, an Order of fish nicknamed the 'living fossils that were thought to be extinct until a live specimen was found in 1938. Given the size of the newfound lung, this particular coelacanth would have been 17 feet (5.2 meters) long, according to the researchers.
The fossilized lung was part of a large slab, uncovered in phosphate beds in Oued Zem in Morocco, which contained several other bones belonging to pterosaurs. The bones confirm that the coelacanth dates back to the end of the Cretaceous period 66 million years ago, just before the dinosaurs became extinct.
"It is absolutely enormous; it's a giant coelacanth, in a place we have never found them before" said study co-author David Martill, a paleontologist at the University of Portsmouth in England.
More:
https://www.livescience.com/massive-coelacanth-fossilized-lung-discovered.html?utm_source=notification
Help, here comes the cole, er, the coela.., uh.... oh, forget it.