Paleontologists in China have discovered the remains of a shark-like fish 439 million years old. Some of its features
Scientists recently discovered the remainsidentified as an extinct species in the Rongxi Formation, where fossils are often found. It is located in Guizhou Province in southern China. The researchers named the species Fanjingshania renovata after a nearby mountain known as Fanjingshan (Fanjingshan or Mount Fanjing).
A team of scientists collected thousands of fossilized skeletal fragments, scales and teeth, and then painstakingly reconstructed the appearance of the ancient fish. Their findings were published online in the journal Nature.
Image credit: IVPP/Chinese Academy of Sciences
F.renovata belongs to an extinct group of shark-like creatures known as acanthods, also known as "spiny sharks." They have spiny fins and bony plates surrounding their shoulder regions.
On the family tree of fish, acanthodes liesomewhere between the chondrichthyans, which include modern sharks and rays, and the osteochthyans, or bony fish. Acanthodes have a body structure similar to a shark, but their bony skin plates and skeletons are similar to those of bony fish. Researchers suspect that F. renovata may be a close relative of the unknown common ancestor of the two groups.
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