(Almost) all pycnodonts from Haqel, Lebanon.
The early Cretaceous had a most diverse pycnodont genus and some of them were extremely weird.
#fossilfishart #paleoart #sciart
Sigmapycnodus giganteum is a 66cm long, the most largest pycnodont of Haqel. It has a moderately deep body and vertically oriented snout that resembles a modern bream or shiphead.
Acrorhinichthys poyatoi is a small and general pycnodont fish, but its gut has something strange-
Some Acrorhinichthys specimens preserve small fish remains, presenting it as an active carnivore, rare to pycnodontid.
Some pycnodonts seem to have sexual dimorphism, like today's guppy and anthias.
Pankowskichthys libanicus and Hensodon spinosus are both tiny and spiky, and they could be divided into two morphotypes. Researchers thought these two types represent males and females.
Gladiopycnodontidae is a weird family of pycnodonts, which is only found in Cretaceous Lebanon.
This family has a more elongated and shallow jaw and body. It means that they occupied a different niche than typical pycnodonts.
And amen. The pycnodont Jesus- a majestic gebreyelichthyid.
Gebrayelichthyidae is also a pycnodont family that is only found in Lebanon, but its body plan was the most extreme one in pycnodonts. It was probably slow-swimming reef fish, which target soft jellies of inverts.
There were large pycnodonts in haqel, and also tiny pycnodonts in.
Corusichthys megacephalus and Ducrotayichthys cornutus are the most smallest pycnodont species in Sannine Formation. Corusichthys is 3.4cm long, and Ducrotayichthys is only 2.9cm long.
Thanks to @JoschuaKnuppe for sharing papers about gebrayelichthyid and for some advice.
Major information sources (and much more in Google Scholar):
tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.10…
researchgate.net/publication/32…
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
geoecotrop.be/uploads/public…
@JoschuaKnuppe Ah. and Some species I didn't include in that infographic:
Coccodus armatus
Paracoccodus woodwardi
Gebrayelichthys vexillarius
(too incomplete)
'Nursallia' goedeli
Palaeobalistum sp.
Proscinetes sp. indet.
(uncomfortable taxonomic place)
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.