''Piranhamesodon pinnatomus'' is a

pycnodontiform Pycnodontiformes is an extinct order of primarily marine bony fish. The group first appeared during the Late Triassic and disappeared during the Eocene. The group has been found in rock formations in Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America ...

fish from the Late Jurassic (ca. ). It was described from the Plattenkalk deposits of the Solnhofen Formation, in Bavaria, Germany. It is notable for having sharp, serrated teeth highly reminiscent of a

piranha A piranha or piraña (, , or ; or , ) is one of a number of freshwater fish in the family Serrasalmidae, or the subfamily Serrasalminae within the tetra family, Characidae in order Characiformes. These fish inhabit South American rivers, ...

, a highly unusual trait as most other species in the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

Pycnodontiformes Pycnodontiformes is an extinct order of primarily marine bony fish. The group first appeared during the Late Triassic and disappeared during the Eocene. The group has been found in rock formations in Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America ...

were

shellfish Shellfish is a colloquial and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater envir ...

eaters with flat, crushing teeth. It is also the oldest known bony fish with this trait. This unusual combination is reflected in its genus name, which is a combination of

and the frequent pycnodontiform genus

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carry ...

''Mesodon''. Fossils of other fish found in the same area have torn fins possibly attributable to this species.

References

Pycnodontiformes genera Jurassic fish of Europe {{Jurassic-fish-stub

See also

References