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Knightia Oblonga
''Knightia'' is an extinct genus of clupeid bony fish that lived in the freshwater lakes and rivers of North America and Asia during the Eocene epoch. The genus was erected by David Starr Jordan in 1907, in honor of the late University of Wyoming professor Wilbur Clinton Knight, "an indefatigable student of the paleontology of the Rocky Mountains." It is the official state fossil of Wyoming, and the most commonly excavated fossil fish in the world. ''Knightia'' belongs to the same taxonomic family as herring and sardines, and resembled the former closely enough that both ''Knightia alta'' and ''Knightia eocaena'' were originally described as species of true herring in the genus ''Clupea''. As with modern-day clupeids, ''Knightia'' spp. likely fed on algae and diatoms, as well as insects and occasionally smaller fish. Anatomy In ''Knightia'' fish, rows of dorsal and ventral scutes run from the back of the head to the medial fins. They had heavy scales and small conic ...
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David Starr Jordan
David Starr Jordan (January 19, 1851 – September 19, 1931) was the founding president of Stanford University, serving from 1891 to 1913. He was an ichthyologist during his research career. Prior to serving as president of Stanford University, he had served as president of Indiana University from 1884 to 1891. Starr was also a strong supporter of eugenics, and his published views expressed a fear of "race-degeneration" and asserted that cattle and human beings are "governed by the same laws of selection". He was an antimilitarist since he believed that war killed off the best members of the gene pool, and he initially opposed American involvement in World War I. Early life and career Jordan was born in Gainesville, New York, and grew up on a farm in upstate New York. His parents made the unorthodox decision to educate him at a local girls' high school. His middle name, Starr, does not appear in early census records, and was apparently self-selected; he had begun using ...
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Sardine
"Sardine" and "pilchard" are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring family Clupeidae. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century, a folk etymology says it comes from the Italian island of Sardinia, around which sardines were once supposedly abundant. The terms "sardine" and "pilchard" are not precise, and what is meant depends on the region. The United Kingdom's Sea Fish Industry Authority, for example, classifies sardines as young pilchards. One criterion suggests fish shorter in length than are sardines, and larger fish are pilchards. The FAO/ WHO Codex standard for canned sardines cites 21 species that may be classed as sardines. FishBase, a comprehensive database of information about fish, calls at least six species "pilchard", over a dozen just "sardine", and many more with the two basic names qualified by various adjectives. Etymology 'Sardine' first appeared in English in the 15th century, a loa ...
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Phareodus
''Phareodus'' is a genus of freshwater fish from the Paleocene to the Eocene of Australia, Europe and North and South America. This genus includes at least four species,1997 "The species of †Phareodus (Teleostei: Osteoglossidae) from the Eocene of North America and their phylogenetic relationships." ''Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology'' 17(3):487-505 ''P. testis'' ( Leidy, 1873) and ''P. encaustus'' of North America, ''P. muelleri'' of Europe, and ''P. queenslandicus'' of Australia. Representatives have been found in the middle Eocene of Australia, Europe and North America, including the Green River Formation in Wyoming, United States. Fossils of the genus have also been found in the Paleocene (Tiupampan) Santa Lucía Formation of Bolivia. ''P. testis'' was a freshwater fish with an oval outline, a small head, and a slightly pointed snout. Its dorsal and anal fins were situated posteriorly, with the anal fin being larger. Its caudal fin was slightly forked. It had small pel ...
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Mioplosus
''Mioplosus'' is an extinct genus of percid fish that lived from the early to middle Eocene. Five species of the genus has been described, ''Mioplosus labracoides'' is found in the Green River Formation Lagerstätte. ''Mioplosus'' has numerous extant relatives in Northern Hemisphere fresh- and brackish water, as well as fossil relatives in Asia, Europe and New Zealand, and may be closely related to the modern-day Pike-perches (genus ''Sander''). ''Mioplosus'' are similar to modern Percids, and like them have two dorsal fins, the anterior dorsal fin spiny and the posterior soft-rayed. Fossil ''Mioplosus'' up to have been found, but anything over is rare. ''Mioplosus'' have pointed teeth and are believed to have been voracious predators, individuals have been found with fish lodged in its throat. ''Mioplosus'' fossils are never found in large groups, which suggest they were solitary. See also * Prehistoric fish * List of prehistoric bony fish * Green River Formation The ...
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Lepisosteus
''Lepisosteus'' is a genus of gars in the family Lepisosteidae. Distribution While in the present day, ''Lepisosteus'' is only known across North America, fossil remains show it was much more widespread in the past, with specimens known from the Cretaceous of India and Brazil. Systematics Species The currently recognized species are: Extant species Fossil species * †''Lepisosteus aganus'' (Cope, 1877) * †''Lepisosteus bemisi'' Grande, 2010 * †''Lepisosteus bohemicus'' (Laube, 1901) * †''Lepisosteus cominatoi'' Santos, 1984 * †''Lepisosteus cycliferus'' (Cope, 1873) * †''Lepisosteus glaber'' Marsh, 1871 * †''Lepisosteus indicus'' Woodward, 1908 * †'' Lepisosteus integer'' (Cope, 1877) * †'' Lepisosteus fimbriatus'' Wood, 1846 * †'' Lepisosteus knieskerni'' Fowler, 1911 * †'' Lepisosteus longus'' Lambe, 1908 * †'' Lepisosteus nahunticus'' (Cope, 1869) * †'' Lepisosteus notabilis'' Leidy, 1873 * †'' Lepisosteus occidentalis''Pearson ''et al.'', 2 ...
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Diplomystus
''Diplomystus'' is an extinct genus of freshwater clupeomorph fish distantly related to modern-day extant herrings, alewives, and sardines. The genus was first named and described by Edward Drinker Cope in 1877. There are seven species of ''Diplomystus'': ''D. dentatus'' (Cope, 1877), ''D. birdii'', ''D. dubetreiti'', ''D. shengliensis'' (Chang 1983), ''D. kokuraensis'' (Uyeno 1979), ''D. primotinus'' (Uyeno 1979), and ''D. altiformis''. ''Diplomystus dentatus'' (Cope, 1877) is well known from lower Eocene deposits from the Green River Formation in Wyoming. Specimens range from larval size to 65 cm and are commonly found in close association with the extinct herring ''Knightia ''Knightia'' is an extinct genus of clupeid bony fish that lived in the freshwater lakes and rivers of North America and Asia during the Eocene epoch. The genus was erected by David Starr Jordan in 1907, in honor of the late University of Wyom ... sp.'' The Green River Formation is the remna ...
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Green River Formation
The Green River Formation is an Eocene geologic formation that records the sedimentation in a group of intermountain lakes in three basins along the present-day Green River in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. The sediments are deposited in very fine layers, a dark layer during the growing season and a light-hue inorganic layer in the dry season. Each pair of layers is called a varve and represents one year. The sediments of the Green River Formation present a continuous record of six million years. The mean thickness of a varve here is 0.18 mm, with a minimum thickness of 0.014 mm and maximum of 9.8 mm.Bradley, W. H. The varves and climate of the Green River epoch: U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 158, pp 87–110, 1929. The sedimentary layers were formed in a large area named for the Green River, a tributary of the Colorado River. The three separate basins lie around the Uinta Mountains (north, east, and south) of northeastern Utah: * an area in northwestern Colorado eas ...
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Shoaling And Schooling
In biology, any group of fish that stay together for social reasons are shoaling, and if the group is swimming in the same direction in a coordinated manner, they are schooling. In common usage, the terms are sometimes used rather loosely. About one quarter of fish species shoal all their lives, and about one half shoal for part of their lives. Fish derive many benefits from shoaling behaviour including defence against predators (through better predator detection and by diluting the chance of individual capture), enhanced foraging success, and higher success in finding a mate. It is also likely that fish benefit from shoal membership through increased hydrodynamic efficiency. Fish use many traits to choose shoalmates. Generally they prefer larger shoals, shoalmates of their own species, shoalmates similar in size and appearance to themselves, healthy fish, and kin (when recognized). The oddity effect posits that any shoal member that stands out in appearance will be preferen ...
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Scute
A scute or scutum (Latin: ''scutum''; plural: ''scuta'' "shield") is a bony external plate or scale overlaid with horn, as on the shell of a turtle, the skin of crocodilians, and the feet of birds. The term is also used to describe the anterior portion of the mesonotum in insects as well as some arachnids (e.g., the family Ixodidae, the scale ticks). Properties Scutes are similar to scales and serve the same function. Unlike the scales of lizards and snakes, which are formed from the epidermis, scutes are formed in the lower vascular layer of the skin and the epidermal element is only the top surface . Forming in the living dermis, the scutes produce a horny outer layer that is superficially similar to that of scales. Scutes will usually not overlap as snake scales (but see the pangolin). The outer keratin layer is shed piecemeal, and not in one continuous layer of skin as seen in snakes or lizards. The dermal base may contain bone and produce dermal armour. Scutes with a bo ...
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Ventral
Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position provides a definition of what is at the front ("anterior"), behind ("posterior") and so on. As part of defining and describing terms, the body is described through the use of anatomical planes and anatomical axes. The meaning of terms that are used can change depending on whether an organism is bipedal or quadrupedal. Additionally, for some animals such as invertebrates, some terms may not have any meaning at all; for example, an animal that is radially symmetrical will have no anterior surface, but can still have a description that a part is close to the middle ("proximal") or further from the middle ("distal"). International organisations have determined vocabularies that are often used as standard vocabularies for subdisciplines of anatom ...
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Dorsal (anatomy)
Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position provides a definition of what is at the front ("anterior"), behind ("posterior") and so on. As part of defining and describing terms, the body is described through the use of anatomical planes and anatomical axes. The meaning of terms that are used can change depending on whether an organism is bipedal or quadrupedal. Additionally, for some animals such as invertebrates, some terms may not have any meaning at all; for example, an animal that is radially symmetrical will have no anterior surface, but can still have a description that a part is close to the middle ("proximal") or further from the middle ("distal"). International organisations have determined vocabularies that are often used as standard vocabularies for subdisciplines of anat ...
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