''Moythomasia'' (named for James Alan Moy-Thomas) is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of early

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or hor ...

from the

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...

period of Europe and Australia. ''Moythomasia'' was a small freshwater fish, long. It had relatively large eyes, presumably to find prey in murky water. Its body was covered in specialized

ganoid scale A fish scale is a small rigid plate that grows out of the skin of a fish. The skin of most jawed fishes is covered with these protective scales, which can also provide effective camouflage through the use of reflection and colouration, as we ...

s; the upper side of each scale sported a small pin that perfectly fit into the hollow lower side of the next scale. This allowed the fish to be both armored and flexible.

Species

* ''M. devonica'' (Clarke, 1885) 'Palaeoniscus devonicus'' Clarke, 1885; ''Rhadinichthys">Palaeoniscus.html" ;"title="'Palaeoniscus">'Palaeoniscus devonicus'' Clarke, 1885; ''Rhadinichthys devonicus'' (Clarke, 1885)] * ''M. durgaringa'' Gardiner & Bartram, 1977 * ''M. lineata'' Choo, 2015 * ''M. nitida'' Gross, 1953 * ''M. perforata'' (Gross, 1942) [''Aldingeria perforata'' Gross, 1942]

References

Devonian fish of Australia Devonian fish of Europe Palaeonisciformes Devonian bony fish Prehistoric ray-finned fish genera {{Palaeonisciformes-stub