An Arkansas entry for 'Shark Week'
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Arkansas at one time had a shark.
Granted, you’d have to go back 326 million years to see the Arkansas shark in action.
According to the American Museum of Natural History, the shark-like Cosmoselachus mehlingi (COSS-mo-see-LAH-kus MEL-in-ghee) at one time wandered in the Fayetteville Shale area. According to museum officials, it is named after Carl Mehling, a former member of the museum's paleontology division.
“We’re delighted to honor him [Mehling] with a weird old dead fish,” researcher Allison Bronson is quoted as saying.
The shark-like reference is due to the Cosmoselachus mehlingi having a gill cover closer to that of a ratfish, a deep-sea fish found in the Pacific, the museum reported. It is one of the many well-preserved fossil sharks from the Fayetteville Shale, researchers said, adding that that area is often studied for its well-preserved fossils.
Researchers did not give the size of the 326-million-year-old fish.
Bronson is also quoted as saying the Cosmoselachus mehlingi has an anatomy not seen in modern sharks.
For additional information on the Cosmoselachus mehlingi, including an artist’s rendering, head over to the American Museum of Natural History’s website.
from KARK https://ift.tt/lZboyO8
0 Response to "An Arkansas entry for 'Shark Week'"
Post a Comment