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Fossils of 15 million - year - old fresh water Pisces discovered in Australia represent a species all novel to skill — and they still have the remains of their final meal in their stomachs .
The fossil of the new metal money , namedFerruaspis brocksi , were excavate by paleontologists at the McGraths Flat fossil site in New South Wales , Australia , according to a new work published March 17 in theJournal of Vertebrate Paleontology .
One of the 15 million-year-old freshwater fish fossils. The stomach contents of the fish show that they fed predominantly on phantom midges.
Inside several of the fish ’s stomach were the fossilized clay of their last suppers , including chip of insect larvae , two insect wing , and a bivalve ( a mollusc with two hinged shells , such as a buck or a mussel ) .
The uncovering is the first fossil of a freshwater smelt — a small , silvery fish — in the group Osmeriformes to have been discovered in Australia and will help scientist decide when these Pisces the Fishes arrived on the enormous island .
" The find of the 15 million - yr - old freshwater fish fogy offers us an unprecedented chance to understand Australia ’s ancient ecosystems and the evolution of its Pisces species , specifically the Osmeriformes group during the Miocene epoch , 11 - 15 million geezerhood ago , " study spark advance authorMatthew McCurry , a fossilist at the Australian Museum and the University of New South Wales , said in a statement .
A school ofFerruaspis brocksibeing chased by an extinct platypus, Obdurodon.
Osmeriformes is a tolerant order of Pisces that includes various smelt species found worldwide , both in fresh water and nautical surround . Smelt are comparatively vulgar across the U.S. , in particular in the Great Lakes , the Northeast , the Pacific Northwest , and Alaska , though some mintage are also present in inland rivers and lake . There are at least six species of smelt across the country , including rainbow smelt ( Osmerus mordax ) , Eulachon or Columbia River smelt ( Thaleichthys pacificus ) and delta smelt ( Hypomesus transpacificus ) .
scientist have long wonder precisely when smelt and related to species arrived in Australia because the fossil record for this mathematical group of Pisces the Fishes and their ascendant has been notably sparse . " Without fossils it has been hard for us to tell precisely when the group go far in Australia and whether they changed at all through time , " McCurry said .
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In the unexampled study , the researchers describe how they come across the fossilized remains ofF. brocksiembedded in goethite , an iron - robust mineral . By analyzing the fogy with high-pitched - powered microscopes , the research worker discover that the specimens had been preserve with a astonishingly high level of detail . The position of the Pisces the Fishes ’s ivory and fins , cells that gave the fish coloring , and their last meal had all stay flash-frozen in time for 15 million year .
Because the paleontologists discovered several Pisces from this new species conserve at the same website , they could nibble together what the ancient fish species might have looked like , as not every Pisces the Fishes was entirely maintain . harmonise to the research worker , F. brocksirepresents an early ancestor of species in the Osmeriformes order found across Australia and New Zealand today .
" The fogey formed between 11 [ million ] and 16 million years ago and provide a window into the past , " McCurry said . " They show that the area was once a temperate wet rain forest and that aliveness was full-bodied and abundant in the Central Tablelands , NSW [ New South Wales ] . "
Their tum depicted object also offer a glimpse into the behavior of this ancient species . " We now know that they give on a range of invertebrates , but the most usual prey was small phantom midge larvae , " McCurry sound out .
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to boot , the unexpected discovery of fossilized pigment cells call melanophores allowed the researchers to determine what color the Pisces might have been . " The fish was dark on its dorsal open , lighter in color on its belly and had two sidelong stripes running along its side , " study co - authorMichael Frese , a researcher at the University of Canberra and Australia ’s interior scientific discipline agency CSIRO , said in the affirmation .
Melanophores are responsible for producing melanin , the pigment that gives color to skin , hair , eyes and feather .
" ossified melanosomes have previously enable fossilist to reconstruct the gloss of plume , " Frese said , but melanosomes have never been used to reconstruct the color figure of a long - extinct fish species .
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