(ORDO NEWS) — On the outskirts of Gloucestershire, in the meadows where local farmers graze their livestock, archaeologists have recently unearthed the fossilized remains of fish, giant marine reptiles called ichthyosaurs, squid, insects and other ancient animals dating back to the early Jura.
Of the more than 180 fossils unearthed during the excavations, one of the outstanding specimens was the complete head of an extinct ray-finned fish from the genus Pachycormus. The fossil, which the researchers found in a piece of limestone, was so well preserved that it contained soft tissue, including scales and an eye.
“The eyeball and eye socket have been preserved in their original form. Usually in fossils they become flat.
But in this case, they are preserved in three dimensions, and it looks like the fish is jumping out of the rock,” said Neville Hollingworth, a field geologist at the University of Birmingham, who made the find.
The researcher contacted ThinkSee3D, a company that creates digital 3D models of fossils. Such three-dimensional images make it possible to bring animals to life digitally and help specialists to study extinct creatures in more detail.
Scientists note that in ancient times these territories were the bottom of a shallow tropical sea. And the deposits of dead marine organisms probably made it possible to preserve the remains of the larger inhabitants of the reservoir.
“When the fish died, they sank to the bottom of the sea. As is the case with other fossils, minerals from the bottom sediments gradually replaced the original structure of bones and teeth.
In this case, we can say that the remains are well preserved, because the replacement process took place very quickly, ”said Dean Lomax, an expert on marine reptile fossils from the University of Manchester in the UK.
—
Online:
Contact us: [email protected]
Our Standards, Terms of Use: Standard Terms And Conditions.