Cretaceous Lebanese Needle Fish Fossil Rhynchodercetis

Rhynchodercetis cf gracilis

Order Aulopiformes, Family Dercetidae

Geological Time: Middle Cretaceous, Cenomanian Stage (93 million years ago)

Size (25.4 mm = 1 inch): 96 mm in length (along curve) on a 92 mm by 78 mm matrix

Fossil Site: Lebanese Lagerstatt, en-Nammoura, Lebanon

Fossil Code: L450

Price: Sold


Rhynchodercetis fish fossilDescription: A rarely seen member of the Order Aulopiformes, Family Dercetidae, it is a member of the bony fishes known as a “needle fish” due to its body shape which comes from en-Nammoura. The en-Nammoura location is quite different in its fauna from either Hajoula or Hakel. It is thought to have been slightly younger than either of those locations. Based upon a high level of preserved terrestrial plants, it is further thought to have been closer to land, albeit islands rather than the continental coastline. Fish are far rarer at en-Nammoura, with very few recorded multiple specimens found. The upper and lower jaws have been extended into a rostrum; these fish were predators of smaller fish. The genus went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous, passing the way of the dinosaurs.

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