It is a strange drawing on the stone, a record of a distant time. Paleontologists from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) found it. It is the fossil of a fish that lived about 95 million years ago. It is the fish that lived with the dinosaurs. He has never been identified. It was found in Chiapas in southern Mexico.
the spikes
There is something that sets this fish apart. It is its numerous spines on the dorsal and anal fin. He was baptized in the name of Choichix alvaradoi. According to experts, it belongs to a large group of fish called acanthomorphs. The mojarra or sea bass belong to this group. But it is different from other acanthomorphic fish. And the fact is that the fish that lived with the dinosaurs has no spines in the ventral fin.
«It’s one of the oldest. We have determined from the number of thorns on the dorsal fin that this is a new group of fish. There are 13. We had two other earlier specimens that were also collected in this area. One with eight thorns and one with three. The latter is much more differentiated, hence the name we gave it: fish with thorns, ”explained Kleyton Magno Cantalice. He is a specialist in paleochthiology at UNAM.
The discovery took place in the El Chango quarry. It is located in the municipality of Ocozocoautla de Espinosa. According to the specialist, it is a known fossil site in Mexico. Before that, they discovered fish, plants, mollusks, crustaceans and ammonites.
American origin
“We could say that this species lived alongside the dinosaurs. However, this does not mean that there are such fossils in this quarry. This is the same age they lived. And it’s a quarry that has regular collections, the specimens are very well preserved. What has been most collected there is fish fossils, “he commented.
The fossil remains allow us to see the nature of life in the distant past. Even the kind of ecosystems that existed millions of years ago. Choichix alvaradoi is considered to be a more primitive species than similar specimens collected in other regions of the world. For example in Lebanon. Therefore, scientists assume that the origin of this group was on the American continent. It then dispersed in the Sea of Thetis, a Mesozoic ocean. Even before the appearance of the Indian Ocean.
