72-Million-Year-Old New Species of Prehistoric Fish Discovered From Suspected Dinosaur Skin Fossil

(Photo: Wikimedia Commons/ThierryCollard)
72-Million-Year-Old New Species of Prehistoric Fish Discovered From a Suspected Dinosaur Skin Fossil

Two hikers found something they thought was from a Jurassic era while walking through the North Saskatchewan River Valley in Edmonton, Canada. They thought it was a fossil from a dinosaur's skin, but it turned out to be the remains of a prehistoric fish.

Dinosaur Skin Fossil Turns Out to Be a Prehistoric Fish Skull

A pair of hikers discovered something rare while hiking in Canada. They initially thought it was a dinosaur skin. They took the fossil to paleontologist Phil Currie at the University of Alberta (UA), who forwarded the remains to UA fish paleontologist Alison Murray and colleagues. The latter identified the remains as a portion of the skull from a huge new species of prehistoric fish that lived 72 million years ago.

According to the researchers, the fish the hikers discovered most likely represented a person at least six and a half feet long when alive.

The fossil discovered in Edmonton originates from a geological deposit formed approximately 73-72 million years ago during the Campanian stage, a portion of the Cretaceous period that spanned 145-66 million years ago (roughly 84-72 million years ago).

"They're some of the largest bony fish we have today and have been around since dinosaurs were walking around on land," Luke Nelson, one of the study's co-authors, said in a press release. "They almost look like dinosaurs because they've got these massive sizes and enormous scales running down their back that make them look kind of wicked."

According to the study, the fossil is the first known sturgeon from the most recent Campanian regions discovered in North America. It is also the first fossil fish species found within Edmonton.

Sturgeons are a class of fish found in North America and Eurasia. They live in freshwater habitats like rivers, lakes, estuaries, and coastal waterways. These fish have a long lifespan, and certain species can get rather big, up to 12 feet long.

Since the time of the dinosaurs, there have been sharks. Though the first real sturgeons arrive relatively later, the immediate ancestors of these fish date back more than 200 million years.

"This is from a part of the Cretaceous period from which we didn't have any North American sturgeon before," Nelson added.

The recently found fossil closes a knowledge gap about the distribution of sturgeons during the end of the Cretaceous, just before the great extinction event that wiped out most of Earth's life and all non-avian dinosaurs.

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What Are Sturgeons?

Sturgeons (family Acipenseridae) are any of 29 species of fishes of the family Acipenseridae (subclass Chondrostei), native to temperate waters of the Northern Hemisphere. While certain species are limited to freshwater, most species inhabit the ocean and migrate up rivers to spawn in the spring or summer, perhaps occurring once every several years. Several animals use their eggs to make caviar. The majority of species are regarded as severely endangered.

Sturgeons are associated with the paddlefish (family Polyodontidae) of the order Acipenseriformes. Sturgeon fossils first appear in rocks from the Middle Jurassic period, between 174 million and 163.5 million years ago. The palaeonisciforms, a group of fish that first appeared toward the end of the Silurian Period (about 419 million years ago), are assumed to have been the ancestors of sturgeons.

Sturgeons are reportedly the "most endangered species group on Earth." These gentle giants have existed since the time of the dinosaurs, but habitat destruction, overfishing, and a thriving illegal caviar trade have brought them dangerously close to extinction.