{"id":96553,"date":"2025-06-24T16:30:34","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T20:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&#038;p=96553"},"modified":"2025-08-19T09:36:58","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T13:36:58","slug":"sphyragnathus-tyche-fish-fossil-discovery","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/sphyragnathus-tyche-fish-fossil-discovery\/","title":{"rendered":"A Chance Discovery of a 350 Million-Year-Old Fossil Reveals a New Type of Ray-Finned Fish"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section class=\"w-screen px-6 cu-section cu-section--white ml-offset-center md:px-8 lg:px-14\">\n    <div class=\"space-y-6 cu-max-w-child-max  md:space-y-10 cu-prose-first-last\">\n\n        \n                    \n                    \n            \n    <div class=\"cu-wideimage relative flex items-center justify-center mx-auto px-8 overflow-hidden md:px-16 rounded-xl not-prose  my-6 md:my-12 first:mt-0 bg-opacity-50 bg-cover bg-cu-black-50 pt-24 pb-32 md:pt-28 md:pb-44 lg:pt-36 lg:pb-60 xl:pt-48 xl:pb-72\" style=\"background-image: url(https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/162\/sphyragnathus-tyche-discovery-1200x900-1.jpg); background-position: 50% 50%;\">\n\n                    <div class=\"absolute top-0 w-full h-screen\" style=\"background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.600);\"><\/div>\n        \n        <div class=\"relative z-[2] max-w-4xl w-full flex flex-col items-center gap-2 cu-wideimage-image cu-zero-first-last\">\n            <header class=\"mx-auto mb-6 text-center text-white cu-pageheader cu-component-updated cu-pageheader--center md:mb-12\">\n\n                                    <h1 class=\"cu-prose-first-last font-semibold mb-2 text-3xl md:text-4xl lg:text-5xl lg:leading-[3.5rem] cu-pageheader--center text-center mx-auto after:left-px\">\n                        A Chance Discovery of a 350 Million-Year-Old Fossil Reveals a New Type of Ray-Finned Fish\n                    <\/h1>\n                \n                            <\/header>\n        <\/div>\n\n                    <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"absolute bottom-0 w-full z-[1]\" fill=\"none\" viewbox=\"0 0 1280 312\">\n                <path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M26.412 315.608c-.602-.268-6.655-2.412-13.524-4.769a1943.84 1943.84 0 0 1-14.682-5.144l-2.276-.858v-5.358c0-4.876.086-5.358.773-5.09 1.674.643 21.38 5.84 34.646 9.109 14.682 3.59 28.935 6.858 45.936 10.449l9.874 2.089H57.322c-16.4 0-30.31-.16-30.91-.428ZM460.019 315.233c42.974-10.074 75.602-19.88 132.443-39.867 76.16-26.791 152.063-57.709 222.385-90.663 16.7-7.823 21.336-10.074 44.262-21.273 85.004-41.688 134.719-64.193 195.291-88.413 66.55-26.577 145.2-53.584 194.27-66.765C1258.5 5.626 1281.34 0 1282.24 0c.17 0 .34 27.596.34 61.3v61.299l-2.23.375c-84.7 13.718-165.93 35.955-310.736 84.931-46.494 15.753-65.427 22.076-96.166 32.15-9.102 3-24.814 8.198-34.989 11.574-107.543 35.954-153.008 50.422-196.626 62.639l-6.74 1.876-89.126-.054c-78.135-.054-88.782-.161-85.948-.857ZM729.628 312.875c33.229-10.985 69.248-23.523 127.506-44.207 118.705-42.223 164.596-57.709 217.446-73.302 2.62-.75 8.29-2.465 12.67-3.751 56.19-16.772 126.94-33.597 184.17-43.671 5.07-.91 9.66-1.768 10.22-1.875l.94-.161v170.236l-281.28-.054H719.968l9.66-3.215ZM246.864 313.411c-65.041-2.251-143.047-12.11-208.432-26.256-18.375-3.965-41.73-9.538-42.202-10.074-.171-.214-.257-21.38-.214-47.046l.129-46.618 6.654 3.697c57.313 32.043 118.491 56.531 197.699 79.143 40.313 11.521 83.459 18.058 138.669 21.059 15.584.857 65.685.857 81.14 0 33.744-1.876 61.306-4.93 88.396-9.806 6.396-1.126 11.634-1.983 11.722-1.929.255.375-20.48 7.769-30.999 11.038-28.592 8.948-59.288 15.646-91.873 20.147-26.36 3.59-50.015 5.627-78.35 6.698-15.584.59-55.209.59-72.339-.053Z\"><\/path>\n                <path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M-3.066 295.067 32.06 304.1v9.033H-3.066v-18.066Z\"><\/path>\n            <\/svg>\n            <\/div>\n\n    \n\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n<p>This article is <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/a-chance-discovery-of-a-350-million-year-old-fossil-reveals-a-new-type-of-ray-finned-fish-254246\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">republished<\/a> from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. All photos provided by <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Conversation<\/a> from various sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/conrad-daniel-mackenzie-wilson-2366846\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Conrad Daniel Mackenzie Wilson<\/a> is a PhD candidate in earth sciences at Carleton University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"ad-auris-iframe\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none;\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"400\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/audio.adauris.ai\/v2\/widget\/RvjICRaqgSFBJozV1NoK\/HRR8ohzt2UxBe90pWVoz?distribution=true\" width=\"100%\" data-project-id=\"RvjICRaqgSFBJozV1NoK\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2015, two members of the <a href=\"https:\/\/novascotia.com\/listing\/blue-beach-fossil-museum\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Blue Beach Fossil Museum<\/a> in Nova Scotia found a long, curved fossil jaw, bristling with teeth. Sonja Wood, the museum&#8217;s owner, and Chris Mansky, the museum&#8217;s curator, found the fossil in a creek after Wood had a hunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The fossil they found belonged to a fish that had died 350 million years ago, its bony husk spanning nearly a metre on the lake bed. The large fish had lived in waters thick with rival fish, including giants several times its size. It had hooked teeth at the tip of its long jaw that it would use to trap elusive prey and fangs at the back to pierce it and break it down to eat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the last eight years, I have been part of a team under the lead of paleontologist Jason Anderson, who has spent <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0125446\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">decades researching the Blue Beach area<\/a> of Nova Scotia, northwest of Halifax, in collaboration with <a href=\"https:\/\/tetrapods.org\/partners\/project-partners.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mansky and other colleagues<\/a>. Much of this work has been on the tetrapods \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/evolution.berkeley.edu\/what-are-evograms\/the-origin-of-tetrapods\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the group that includes the first vertebrates to move to land and all their descendants<\/a> \u2014 but my research focuses on what Blue Beach fossils can tell us about how the modern vertebrate world formed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter align-center zoomable\"><a href=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/664381\/original\/file-20250428-62-f91gsd.JPG?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/664381\/original\/file-20250428-62-f91gsd.JPG?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" alt=\"a man stands agains a tall cliff\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><span class=\"caption\">Blue Beach Fossil Museum curator Chris Mansky below the fossil cliffs.<\/span><br>\n<span class=\"attribution\"><span class=\"source\">(C. Wilson)<\/span>, <a class=\"license\" href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CC BY<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"birth-of-the-modern-vertebrate-world\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Birth of the modern vertebrate world<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The modern vertebrate world is defined by the dominance of three groups: the cartilaginous fishes or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sharksandrays.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">chondrichthyans<\/a> (including sharks, rays and chimaeras), the lobe-finned fishes or sarcopterygians (including tetrapods and <a href=\"https:\/\/education.nationalgeographic.org\/resource\/west-african-lungfish\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">rare lungfishes<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/fishbase.se\/summary\/Latimeria-chalumnae.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">coelacanths<\/a>), and the ray-finned fishes or <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/pala.12150\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">actinopterygians<\/a> (including everything from sturgeon to tuna). Only a few jawless fishes <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1098\/rsbl.2015.0506\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">round out the picture<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This basic grouping has remained <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1073\/pnas.0914000107\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">remarkably consistent<\/a> \u2014 at least for the last <a href=\"http:\/\/bluebeachfossilmuseum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">350 million years<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before then, the vertebrate world was a lot more crowded. In the ancient vertebrate world, during the <a href=\"https:\/\/rock.geosociety.org\/net\/documents\/gsa\/timescale\/timescl.pdf?v=2022\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Silurian Period (443.7-419.2 MA)<\/a> for example, the ancestors of modern vertebrates swam alongside <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1098\/rspb.2015.2210\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">spiny pseudo-sharks (acanthodians)<\/a>, fishy sarcopterygians, <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.cub.2023.11.038\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">placoderms<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalatlasofancientlife.org\/learn\/chordata\/jawless-vertebrates\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">jawless fishes with bony shells<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Armoured jawless fishes <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1098\/rspb.2014.2245\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">had dwindled<\/a> by the <a href=\"https:\/\/rock.geosociety.org\/net\/documents\/gsa\/timescale\/timescl.pdf?v=2022\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Late Devonian Period (419.2-358.9 MA)<\/a>, but the rest were still diverse. Actinopterygians were still restricted to a few species with similar body shapes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By the immediately succeeding early Carboniferous times, <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1073\/pnas.0914000107\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">everything had changed<\/a>. The placoderms were gone, the number of species of fishy sarcopterygians and acanthodians had cratered, and actinopterygians and chondrichthyans were flourishing in their place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/j.1475-4983.2012.01165.x\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">modern vertebrate world<\/a> was born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter align-center zoomable\"><a href=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/664382\/original\/file-20250428-68-rw8cb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/664382\/original\/file-20250428-68-rw8cb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" alt=\"a small fish with a long wispy tail\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><span class=\"caption\">A shortnose chimaera, belonging to the chondrichthyan group of vertebrates.<\/span><br>\n<span class=\"attribution\"><span class=\"source\">(Shutterstock)<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"a-sea-change\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">A sea change<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Blue Beach has helped build our understanding of how this happened. Studies describing its <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0125446\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">tetrapods<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1098\/rsos.171727\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">actinopterygians<\/a> have showed the persistence of Devonian-style forms in the Carboniferous Period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whereas the abrupt end-Devonian decline of the placoderms, acanthodians and fishy sarcopterygians can be explained by a mass extinction, it now appears that multiple types of actinopterygians and tetrapods survived to be preserved at Blue Beach. This makes a big difference to the overall story: Devonian-style tetrapods and actinopterygians <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41559-022-01919-4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">survive and contribute to the evolution of these groups into the Carboniferous Period<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But significant questions remain for paleontologists. One point of debate revolves around how actinopterygians diversified as the modern vertebrate world was born \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1098\/rspb.2011.2454\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">whether they explored new ways of feeding or swimming first<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter align-center zoomable\"><a href=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/664389\/original\/file-20250428-56-wfa4hx.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/664389\/original\/file-20250428-56-wfa4hx.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" alt=\"three lower jaw bones on the left, two reconstructions of prehistoric fish on the right\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><span class=\"caption\">Comparing the jawbones of <em>Sphyragnathus<\/em>, <em>Austelliscus<\/em> and <em>Tegeolepis<\/em>.<\/span><br>\n<span class=\"attribution\"><span class=\"source\">(C. Wilson)<\/span>, <a class=\"license\" href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CC BY<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Blue Beach fossil was actinopterygian, and we wondered what it could tell us about this issue. Comparison was difficult. Two actinopterygians with long jaws and large fangs were known from the preceding Devonian Period (<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1098\/rsbl.2020.0766\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Austelliscus ferox<\/em><\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.schweizerbart.de\/papers\/pala\/detail\/A143\/70806\/iTegeolepis_clarki_i_Newberry_a_palaeonisciform_from_the_Upper_Devonian_Ohio_Shale\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Tegeolepis clarki<\/em><\/a>), but the newly found jaw had more extreme curvature and the arrangement of its teeth. Its largest fangs are at the back of its jaw, but the largest fangs of <em>Austelliscus<\/em> and <em>Tegeolepis<\/em> are at the front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These differences were significant enough that we created a new genus and species: <em>Sphyragnathus tyche<\/em>. And, in view of the debate on actinopterygian diversification, we made a prediction: that the differences in anatomy between <em>Sphyragnathus<\/em> and Devonian actinopterygians represented different adaptations for feeding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"front-fangs\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Front fangs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To test this prediction, we compared <em>Sphyragnathus<\/em>, <em>Austelliscus<\/em> and <em>Tegeolepis<\/em> to living actinopterygians. In modern actinopterygians, the difference in anatomy reflects a difference in function: front-fangs capture prey with their front teeth and grip it with their back teeth, but <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1098\/rsos.190040\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">back-fangs use their back teeth<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since we couldn&#8217;t observe the fossil fish in action, <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/joa.13248\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">we analyzed the stress their teeth would experience if we applied force<\/a>. The back teeth of <em>Sphyragnathus<\/em> handled force with low stress, making them suited for a role in piercing prey, but the back teeth of <em>Austelliscus<\/em> and <em>Tegeolepis<\/em> turned low forces into significantly higher stress, making them best suited for gripping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We concluded that <em>Sphyragnathus<\/em> was the earliest actinopterygian adapted for breaking down prey by piercing, which also matches the <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1098\/rspb.2011.2454\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">broader predictions of the feeding-first hypothesis<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Substantial work remains \u2014 only the jaw of <em>Sphyragnathus<\/em> is preserved, so the &#8220;locomotion-first&#8221; hypothesis was untested. But this represents the challenge and promise of paleontology: get enough tantalizing glimpses into the past and you can begin to unfold a history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As for the actinopterygians, current research indicates that they first <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41559-022-01919-4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">diversified in the Devonian Period<\/a> and shifted into new roles when <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41598-021-87027-y\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the modern vertebrate world was born<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>_<br>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\">Carleton Newsroom<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/254246\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\" alt=\"The Conversation\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 2015, two members of the Blue Beach Fossil Museum in Nova Scotia found a long, curved fossil jaw, bristling with teeth. Sonja Wood, the museum\u2019s owner, and Chris Mansky, the museum\u2019s curator, found the fossil in a creek after Wood had a hunch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":96555,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[1623],"cu_story_tag":[],"class_list":["post-96553","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-expert-perspectives"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/96553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/96553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96559,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/96553\/revisions\/96559"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=96553"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=96553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}