Hemingwaya
| Hemingwaya | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| late Paleocene | ||||||||||||
| 58 to 56 million years | ||||||||||||
| Locations | ||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the family | ||||||||||||
| Hemingwayidae | ||||||||||||
| Sytchevskaya & Prokofiev, 2002 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Hemingwaya | ||||||||||||
| Sytchevskaya & Prokofiev , 2002 |
Hemingwaya sarissa is an extinct marine fish from the order of the swordfish-like (Istiophoriformes) and its oldest known representative. Fossil remains of the speciesdatedto the late Paleocene have been found in Turkmenistan . Hemingwaya sarissa was assigned to a newly established family, the Hemingwayidae, whichis said to bethe sister group of the recent spearfish (Istiophoridae). The generic name was given in honor of the American writer Ernest Hemingway , who in his novella The Old Man and the Sea described the catch of a giant marlin by an old Cuban fisherman. The type epithet is derived from the sarissa , a spear that was used by Macedonian and Hellenistic armiesin ancient times.
features
Hemingwaya sarissa resembled a juvenile specimen of the recent sailfish ( Istiophorus platypterus ), had an elongated body and was 30 to 40 cm long. Almost the entire length of the trunk was occupied by a high and very long first dorsal fin and an equally high and only slightly shorter first anal fin . The second dorsal fin and the second anal fin were very low and short. The first anal fin started far in front, below the eighth vertebra. In front of it was the anus . The pectoral fins were small, the pelvic fins were absent. The upper and lower jaws were greatly elongated. The maxillary rostrum was formed by the premaxillary . The lower jaw was only slightly shorter than the upper jaw rostrum. Both jaws were covered with small, brush-like teeth. The caudal fin skeleton had two separate hypuralia , the caudal fin was forked. Of the total of 30 to 40 vertebrae, 15 to 20 supported the abdomen and 15 to 20 the caudal stalk. The last five or six vertebrae of the caudal peduncle had lateral parapophyses. The head behind the orbit and the sides of the body were covered by six longitudinal rows of scales.
Way of life
The authors of the first description suspect that Hemingwaya inhabited the Epipelagial and did not occur at greater depths. The fish is said not to have been a very active swimmer, but rather drifting in the current, only catching its food in a quick, short advance.
literature
- Harry L. Fierstine: Fossil History of Billfishes (Xiphioidei). Bulletin of Marine Science, Volume 79, Issue 3, January 2006, pages 433-453 abstract