''Protobalistum imperiale'' is an extinct prehistoric
tetraodontid bony fish
Osteichthyes (), popularly referred to as the bony fish, is a diverse superclass of fish that have skeletons primarily composed of bone tissue. They can be contrasted with the Chondrichthyes, which have skeletons primarily composed of cartilag ...
that lived from the
Lutetian epoch of
Eocene Monte Bolca
Monte Bolca is a lagerstätte near Verona, Italy that was one of the first fossil sites with high quality preservation known to Europeans, and is still an important source of fossils from the Eocene.
Geology
Monte Bolca was uplifted from the T ...
.
In life, it would have resembled a compressed boxfish with five massive spines along the anterior-dorsal side, with the longest spine directly above the forehead, and the shortest spine directly in front of the dorsal fin. It is distinguished from its close,
sympatric
In biology, two related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter one another. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species sh ...
relative, ''
Spinacanthus'', in that its scales are large, and form a sort of armor. (In ''S. cuneiformis'', the individual scales are relatively small, and do not touch each other).
''Protobalistum imperiale'' and ''Spinacanthus'' were a part of the ecosystem of the lagoon that would become Monte Bolca. It has been suggested that, because of their similarity to
boxfish, and due to their close relation to modern-day
triggerfish, spinacanthids may have preyed on shellfish and small fish.
See also
* ''
Spinacanthus'', its closest relative, lived
sympatrically
In biology, two related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter one another. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species s ...
with ''Protobalistum''
* ''
Eospinus'', another close relative from the Earliest Eocene of
Turkmenistan
* ''
Eolactoria'', another extinct tetraodontid from Monte Bolca
* ''
Proaracana
''Proaracana dubia'' is an extinct, prehistoric aracanid boxfish that lived during the Lutetian of middle Eocene Monte Bolca.
See also
* '' Eolactoria''
* Prehistoric fish
* List of prehistoric bony fish
A ''list'' is any set of items in ...
'', another extinct tetraodontid from Monte Bolca
*
Prehistoric fish
*
List of prehistoric bony fish
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College
Albert A. List College of Jewish Studies, known simply as List College, is the undergraduate school of the J ...
References
A remarkable new genus of Tetraodontiform fish with features of both Balistids and Ostraciids from the Eocene of Turkmenistan(contains a brief discussion and description of Spinacanthidae)
Spinacanthidae
Fossils of Italy
{{tetraodontiformes-stub