Biology:Brychaetus

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Short description: Extinct genus of fishes

Brychaetus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous–Eocene
Brychaetus.jpg
Brychaetus muelleri fish head from the Eocene London Clay on the Isle of Sheppey UK
Scientific classification edit
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Osteoglossiformes
Family: Osteoglossidae
Genus: Brychaetus
Woodward, 1901
Species:
B. muelleri
Binomial name
Brychaetus muelleri
Woodward, 1901
Synonyms[1]

Pomphractus
Platops

Brychaetus is an extinct genus of prehistoric bony tongue fish known from the Late Cretaceous to the Eocene. 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]

See also

  • Prehistoric fish
  • List of prehistoric bony fish

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Frickhinger, Karl Albert (1995). Fossil Atlas: Fishes. Trans. Dr. R.P.S. Jefferies. Blacksburg, Virginia: Tetra Press. https://archive.org/details/fossilatlasfishe0000fric. 

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