Lobe-finned fish — Eusthenopteron foordi

Geologic period: Late Devonian

Age: Late Devonian.

Feeding: Predatory ecology is inferred from skull and tooth anatomy.

Locomotion: Aquatic swimming using fins; it was not a walking land tetrapod.

Body plan: Fish body with robust internal bones inside paired fleshy fins.

Evidence: Skull and skeletal anatomy are direct. Its evolutionary relationship is reconstructed through comparative anatomy.

Why it matters: Eusthenopteron helped scientists recognize anatomical links between lobe-finned fishes and early tetrapods.

Plain Language Identity: A Late Devonian lobe-finned fish closely related to the branch of vertebrates that eventually produced tetrapods.

What You Are Looking At: A fossil skull from a sarcopterygian, or lobe-finned fish.

Ecosystem: Late Devonian aquatic ecosystem.

Preservation: Mineralized vertebrate skull fossil.

Formation: Escuminac Formation for well-documented Smithsonian material.

Find Location: Quebec, Canada.

Open Questions: Do not describe Eusthenopteron as the direct ancestor of all land vertebrates.

Source Urls: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual-tour/current-exhibits/deep-time-virtual-tour-fossil-list; https://www.si.edu/object/nmnhpaleobiology_3414848

Enrichment Method: SAGE curated research pass; title and scientific name matched; evidence separated from inference

Scientific name: Eusthenopteron foordi

Evidence / representation: comparative_exact_taxon_visual

comparative_exact_taxon_visual

Oceans Before Dinosaurs: The Rise of Complex Animal Life.

Media license: CC BY 2.0

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0