Brychaetus

Brychaetus is an extinct genus of prehistoric bony tongue fish known from the Late Cretaceous to the Paleocene. It contains a single species, Brychaetus muelleri. Its fossils have been found in Europe, North America, and northern Africa. This freshwater fish had very long teeth which are half bone and half enamel. It's thought to be related to the modern day Arowana although the presence of a sclerotic ossicle in the fossil record would suggest that they were a deep water fish unlike modern day Arowanas which are surface feeders.[1]

Brychaetus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous–Paleocene
Brychaetus Muelleri fish head from the Eocene London Clay on the Isle of Sheppey UK.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Subphylum:
Vertebrata
Infraphylum:
Gnathostomata
Superclass:
Osteichthyes
Class:
Actinopterygii
Family:
Osteoglossidae
Genus:
Brychaetus
Species:
B. muelleri
Binomial name
Brychaetus muelleri
(Agassiz, 1845)
Synonyms[1]

Pomphractus
Platops



See also
  • Prehistoric fish
  • List of prehistoric bony fish

References
  1. Frickhinger, Karl Albert (1995). Fossil Atlas: Fishes. Trans. Dr. R.P.S. Jefferies. Blacksburg, Virginia: Tetra Press.



This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.