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LEXLOTHOR — Crossopholis Skeleton
#fish #fossils #ichthyology #crossopholismagnacaudatus #polyodontidae #skeletons #paddlefish #vertebratepaleontology
Published: 2015-09-26 16:00:08 +0000 UTC; Views: 824; Favourites: 13; Downloads: 7
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Description
More examples of my fossil photography can be seen in my DA "Paleo & Sci Illo" gallery:lexlothor.deviantart.com/galle…
Crossopholis magnacaudutus is an uncommon Eocene fish in the fossil record of North America. This particularly well preserved example is from the Green River oil shale formation of Southwest Wyoming. It is about 1 meter long. It is related to the modern paddlefish Polyodon that can approach 3 meters in length.
The long projection in front of the specimens skull is its paddle. The delicate crisscross bones are known as stellates. In life the paddle supported thousands of electrically sensitive organs that could detect the electrical fields of its prey species.
This specimen is on display at the Black Hills Institute in Hill City, South Dakota.
Photo & text (c) John P. Alexander
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Comments: 4
So beautiful, look at how well preserved it is . This amount of details ....
Now, bellow the frontal fin there's some smaller bones. Is it another fish? Eaten by Crossopholis maybe?
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The paddlefish is seen in dorsal view. Yes the extraneous bones appear to be those of another fish. However they are lying on top of the large specimen so they probably represent the chance superposition of another fish corpse.
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