280 Million-Year-Old Fossil Reveals Origins of Chimaeroid Fishes
Wednesday, January 4, 2017 - 15:01
in Paleontology & Archaeology
High-definition CT scans of the fossilized skull of a 280 million-year-old fish reveal the origin of chimaeras, a group of cartilaginous fish related to sharks. Analysis of the brain case of Dwykaselachus oosthuizeni, a shark-like fossil from South Africa, shows telltale structures of the brain, major cranial nerves, nostrils and inner ear belonging to modern-day chimaeras.