Jakarta –
Researchers in South Africa have been excavating fossils fish a giant 360 million years old. This fanged fish is called a predator of human ancestors.
The age of ancient fish is much older than the dinosaurs. They swam in the river waters of the ancient southern continent of Gondwana.
This fish has a length of about 2.7 meters and is a predator. Researchers refer to it as Hyneria is a loan or one that eats another in IsiXhosa, the local language in South Africa where the fossils were found.
Its size of more than 2 meters makes this fish the largest bony fish recorded. These swimming animals lived during the late Devonian period, around 383 million to 359 million years ago.
“The mouth contains rows of small teeth, but also a pair of large canines which may be up to 5 centimeters (2 inches) in the largest individuals,” Per Ahlberg, a Professor in the Department of Organismal Biology at Uppsala University, Sweden, told Live Science.
Researchers actually found the first clues about fish in 1995. Experts found isolated fossilized scales at a dig site called Waterloo Ranch, near Makhanda.
Lurking Then Appears Suddenly
The fossils found show that Hyneria is a loan have fins that point behind the body. This is an ecological characteristic of a predator that has a waiting behavior and then shoots suddenly.
“Hyneria will lurk in the dark shadows and wait for things to pass by,” explained Robert Gess, another researcher.
This gigantic fish is thought to have preyed on four-legged creatures known as tetrapods, the ancestors leading to the human lineage. Tristichopterid (fish Hyneria is a loan) evolved into a monster that, in all likelihood, ate our ancestors,” said Per Ahlberg.
The fish is thought to live not only in the tropical region of Gondwana, but across continents, even the polar circle.
While, there have also been previous studies which identified other species of the same genus, viz H lindae. However, this species was discovered at a dig site in Pennsylvania which in the late Devonian era was part of the supercontinent Euramerica.
Fish Those 2.7 meters were lost during the mass extinction event at the end of the Devonian, about 359 million years ago. They have no direct descendants at this time. On the other hand, researchers think a common ancestor with our ancestral lineage existed even earlier in the Devonian era.
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