A new species of fish from Nova Scotia can change the opinion about the Devonian extinction

[Kasia]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/minas-basin-ancient-fish-species-discovery-1.4667718

[Innocentx]

Just curious, Kasia. Is the artist's rendering above, supposed to be of the new find Avonichthys manskyi?

[Heteromorph]

56 minutes ago, Innocentx said:

Just curious, Kasia. Is the artist's rendering above, supposed to be of the new find Avonichthys manskyi?

It looks like Acanthostega to me, not a fish but an early Tetrapodomorpha. This is the description under the picture in the article, emphasizes added: “Fish fossils found at Blue Beach, N.S., can help fill in evolutionary gaps between fish and four-legged creatures, such as this early tetropod which was fish-like, with tail fins, gills and up to eight fingers. (Richard Hammond)”

[Kasia]

57 minutes ago, Innocentx said:

Just curious, Kasia. Is the artist's rendering above, supposed to be of the new find Avonichthys manskyi?

Nope, it's an artistic presentation of another item found in the same place. Here you have the link to the site with picture of the new species: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Avonichthys-manskyi-gen-et-sp-nov-Photograph-and-interpretive-line-drawing-of_fig5_325172558. 

[Innocentx]

Thanks, @Heteromorph. The description wasn't very specific and I know little about these.

 

@Kasia I see, thanks. Jason Anderson must have very educated eyes.

[jdp]

Avonichthys is a lot like Moythomasia:

 

 

There isn't a nice picture of Avonichthys because there's not much of Avonichthys. It's a really scrappy fragment of skull. There's just enough there to tell what it is, but it's nothing to write home about.

[jdp]

1 hour ago, Heteromorph said:

It looks like Acanthostega to me, not a fish but an early Tetrapodomorpha. This is the description under the picture in the article, emphasizes added: “Fish fossils found at Blue Beach, N.S., can help fill in evolutionary gaps between fish and four-legged creatures, such as this early tetropod which was fish-like, with tail fins, gills and up to eight fingers. (Richard Hammond)”

There actually is an Acanthostega-like animal at the same site. There's not much of it besides a few limb bones, but it's definitely there. This is NOT the same thing as Avonichthys, which is a ray-finned fish. There are other assorted animals from the same site, including several other ray-finned fish, several acanthodians, and a very large rhizodont.

[jdp]

1 hour ago, Innocentx said:

Thanks, @Heteromorph. The description wasn't very specific and I know little about these.

 

@Kasia I see, thanks. Jason Anderson must have very educated eyes.

Or his students do