Paleontologists from the University of Portsmouth accidentally discovered a fossilized bone lung of a fish that grew as big as a great white shark. It is the largest ever found by accident.
Science Daily reported that this is a species of the so-called "living-fossil" coelacanth that still can be seen in the sea today. They were able to survive the extinction millions of years ago that killed dinosaurs.
The researchers noted that the discovery is purely serendipitous. The university's School of the Environment, Geography and Geosciences paleontologist Professor David Martill identified this fossilized bony lung.
Enormous Ancient Fish Found
Before the fossilized remains were identified as that of the coelacanth, the collector who bought it thought that it was the remains of a pterodactyls' skull. Professor Martill was then asked to identify the fossils. Surprisingly, it was not what they thought it was because it was a single bone that is made of many tiny bony plates.
"The thin bony plates were arranged like a barrel, but with the staves going round instead of from top to bottom. Only one animal has such a structure and that is the coelacanth -- we'd found a bony lung of this remarkable and bizarre-looking fish," Professor Martill said.
"The collector was mightily disappointed he didn't have a pterosaur skull, but my colleagues and I were thrilled as no coelacanth has ever been found in the phosphate deposits of Morocco, and this example was absolutely massive!"
The fossilized bony lung was identified with the help of the leading Brazilian paleontologist Dr. Paulo Brito from the State University of Rio de Janeiro who Professor Martill teamed up with.
The fossil was discovered next to a pterodactyl embedded in a block of phosphate that was backed with plaster and covered in the lacquer that turned it into a color brown. They believe that the ancient fish lived in the Cretaceous era about 66 million years ago.
Indeed, it was surprising to find an enormous coelacanth due to his unusual size of the lung. They estimated that the fossilized bony lung could have been five meters in length, a size that is greater than the rare and threatened modern-day coelacanths that grew into a maximum length of two meters.
Elusive, Deep-Sea Coelacanth
Known as a living creature in the past, scientists once believed that the elusive deep-sea coelacanth was already extinct. However, it was not until 1938 that a living coelacanth was found off South Africa, Express.co.uk reported.
According to National Geographic, there are only two known species of coelacanths. One of them lives near the Comoros island off the coast of Africa, while the second one was found in the waters of Sulawesi, Indonesia.
This fish lives deep in the ocean up to 2,300 below the surface and could grow up to 6.5 feet or more and weigh 198 pounds. Coelacanths are stated to live for up to 60 years or more.
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