“They died with a full stomach”: researchers discover perfectly preserved 15-million-year-old fossil fish in Australia
Researchers in Australia have found ancient fossil fish that have been preserved in exquisite detail.
Scientists in Australia have found 15-million-year-old fossil fish so well preserved that the researchers were able to tell what the animals ate before dying.
As reported by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the discovery was made near Gulong, New South Wales, where the fossil fish were found within an iron-rich material called goethite.
“Holy shit, this is a fish”
Speaking to ABC, the Australian National University researcher Jochen Brocks recalled the moment he found the first in a haul of several fossils.
“I split the rock and thought, ‘holy shit, this is a fish,’” Professor Brocks said.
Fish preserved in exquisite detail
As explained in a paper published this week in the Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology, the team of researchers was able to see features such as soft tissue and identify the color of the fish, which belonged to a previously unknown species that is related to the Australian grayling.
“Normally when we find fossils, we find bits and pieces of bone,” the paper’s lead author, the Australian Museum paleontologist Dr. Matthew McCurry, told ABC.
“But in this case, the skeleton’s articulated, so all the bones are in their position as they would be in life. But also, we can see the soft tissues around them.”
And, as the scientists recalled in an interview with The Guardian’s Petra Stock, they were able to use a microscope to see what the fish had eaten before they died - chiefly phantom midge larvae.
“They died with a full stomach,” Dr. Michael Frese, another member of the team of researchers, told The Guardian.
“Proud to have world-first discovery named after me”
The species of fish, which lived in Australian freshwater lakes and rivers, has now been named Ferruaspis brocksi in honor of Professor Brocks.
“I am very proud to have this world-first discovery named after me,” he said, per the Australian National University’s College of Science and Medicine.
“This discovery opens new avenues for understanding the evolutionary history of Australia’s freshwater fish species and ancient ecosystems."
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