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Amphistium

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Extinct genus of fishes

Amphistium
Temporal range: Ypresian, 50–49 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Carangiformes
Suborder: Pleuronectoidei
Family: †Amphistiidae
Boulenger, 1902
Genus: †Amphistium
Agassiz, 1835
Species: †A. paradoxum
Binomial name
†Amphistium paradoxum
Agassiz, 1835

Amphistium paradoxum (from Greek: ἀμφί amphi, 'on both sides', Greek: ιστίον istion 'sail', and Greek: παράδοξος paradoxus 'extraordinary'), the only species classified under the genus Amphistium and the family Amphistiidae, is a fossil fish which has been identified as a Paleogene relative of the flatfish, and as a transitional fossil. In a typical modern flatfish, the head is asymmetric with both eyes on one side of the head. In Amphistium, the transition from the typical symmetric head of a vertebrate is incomplete, with one eye placed near the top of the head.

Amphistium is among the many fossil fish species known from the Monte Bolca Lagerstätte of Ypresian Italy. Heteronectes is a related, and very similar fossil from a slightly earlier strata of France. Heteronectes is sometimes also placed in the family Amphistiidae, though other studies find it to be more basal than any other flatfish taxon.

References

  1. Roberts, George (1839). An etymological and explanatory dictionary of the terms and language of geology. London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longmans. pp. 7, 145. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  2. "Odd Fish Find Contradicts Intelligent-Design Argument". National Geographic. July 9, 2008. Archived from the original on July 11, 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-17.
  3. Matt Friedman (2008-07-10). "The evolutionary origin of flatfish asymmetry". Nature. 454 (7201): 209–212. Bibcode:2008Natur.454..209F. doi:10.1038/nature07108. PMID 18615083. S2CID 4311712.
  4. Friedman, Matt (2012). "Osteology of † Heteronectes chaneti (Acanthomorpha, Pleuronectiformes), an Eocene stem flatfish, with a discussion of flatfish sister-group relationships". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 32 (4): 735–756. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.661352. ISSN 0272-4634.
  5. Near, Thomas J; Thacker, Christine E (18 April 2024). "Phylogenetic classification of living and fossil ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii)". Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 65. doi:10.3374/014.065.0101.
Taxon identifiers
Amphistium


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