Description:
The preservation of this Coelacanth is exquisite. Coming from the
world famous Solnhofen Limestone, it was formed in deposits that
were a warm Jurassic salt water lagoon. Solnhofen flora and fauna
are highly diverse, including soft-bodied organisms and one of the
world's most famous fossils, Archaeopteryx, an early
bird.
The
Coelacanths appear in the early Devonian fossil record, and ostensibly
became widely dispersed in the late Devonian and Carboniferous marine
environments. They were once believed to have gone extinct at the
end of the Cretaceous, until the first Latimeria specimen
was found off the east coast of South Africa in 1938. As a taxon
that disappears from part of the fossil record and reappears, Coelacanths
are considered a Lazarus taxon. Since 1938, Latimeria has been found
in the Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, and Tanzania; many
consider a Coelacanths to be living fossils. The most likely reason
for the gap in the fossil record from the end Cretaceous on is that
Coelacanths disappeared from shallow waters. Fossil discovery and
recovery in deep waters is next to impossible..
Coelacanths are lobe-finned fish having pectoral
and anal fins on fleshy stalks supported by bones, and the tail
or caudal fin diphycercal (divided into three lobes), the middle
one of which also includes a continuation of the notochord.
Also
see: Sarcoptergyii
Fish Fossils Solnhofen
Fossils
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