Feroxichthys, a new Triassic predatory fish

[Halichoeres]

From the Middle Triassic of China, here's a new durophagous (eater of hard-shelled things) stem-neopterygian (related to both teleosts and holosteans). Larger than other members of its family, and with bigger teeth, it was probably a pretty fierce predator of shellfish. Hence the name, Feroxichthys yunnanensis ("fierce [L.] fish [Gr.] from Yunnan").

A reconstruction of the skull:



Open access in PeerJ: https://peerj.com/articles/10229/

[Faelrin]

Glad to see it open access. Man look at the preservation of this specimen. Looks wonderful. Definitely going on my wishlist for sure. Also can't help but think of a red bellied piranha. Definitely would be painful to be bitten by those teeth.

[Halichoeres]

Glad to see it open access. Man look at the preservation of this specimen. Looks wonderful. Definitely going on my wishlist for sure. Also can't help but think of a red bellied piranha. Definitely would be painful to be bitten by those teeth.

Yeah, going on my wishlist too! I think this would be more of a crusher than a slicer (like a piranha). but definitely still unpleasant!

[Halichoeres]

There's now a second species, Feroxichthys panzhouensis. Check out those chompers!



Ma et al., open access in PeerJ: https://peerj.com/articles/11257/

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

Beside genera that were named with multiple species in the same paper, is this the soonest a new named genus has a second species assigned to it?

[Faelrin]

Oh nice they found another one, with even more horrific teeth then the last.


Edit: Also wonderful preservation on this one as well. Good find.

[Halichoeres]

Beside genera that were named with multiple species in the same paper, is this the soonest a new named genus has a second species assigned to it?

I don't know! I would guess that the record belongs to something like a brachiopod, a conodont, or an ammonite, but I'm not at all sure.