Amateur Paleontologist Finds Rare Fish Fossil
Amateur Paleontologist Finds Rare Fish Fossil
By Susan Xu -
September 7, 2015
Stephanie Leco, a 26 year-old amateur paleontologist, recently unearthed the 220 million year-old fossil of a long-snouted fish that was thought to be extinct in North America.
RARE FISH FOSSIL FROM THE LATE TRIASSIC PERIOD
The fossil, only about a pinky fingernail in size, was uncovered in Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park, in a site that was once a lake or pond during the Late Triassic period, according to Nature World Report. Although closely related fish species were known to exist about 10 million years earlier, “The only other evidence of (this species) being in this time period was previously found in China, so this is the first time that it’s being seen in the North America for this time period,” stated Leco.
Leco uncovered the fossil during a citizens dig held at the park last month, near Holbrook. At the time, she was unable to identify the fossil. To classify the specimen, Leco, accompanied by the director of the preparation of fossils in the park, took the fossil to the lab where it was later identified as a fish species closely related to the genus Saurichthys. According to Dispatch Times, the respective period started only about 250 million years ago and followed the largest extinction on Earth.
Ben Kligman, a senior at the University of California, Berkley, has stated that the fossil is believed to belong to a new species of fish; however this assertion still needs to be verified and he plans to return to the site next year to find the rest of the fossil: “Although it’s probably a new species, we can’t say that it is yet because we don’t have enough specimens.”
More:
http://clapway.com/2015/09/07/paleontologist-fish-fossil123/#ixzz3lKLNoYo4
