Stethacanthus

Stethacanthus altonensis · Stethacanthus was an extinct shark-like cartilaginous fish whose fossils have been found in Australia, Asia, Europe and North America.

It lived about 382.7 to 298.9 million years ago.

Stethacanthus
Photo: Dmitry Bogdanov, CC BY-SA 3.0
Stethacanthus
Photo: Dmitry Bogdanov, CC BY 3.0
Stethacanthus
Photo: JonasB 7, CC BY-SA 4.0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassChondrichthyes
OrderSymmoriida
FamilyStethacanthidae
GenusStethacanthus
SpeciesStethacanthus altonensis

Where its fossils were found

Montana, Ohio, Texas and other US states, plus finds in Europe, Asia and Australia.

Fun facts

  • Stethacanthus is best known for a dorsal fin shaped like an anvil or an ironing board.
  • Small tooth-like spikes covered both the anvil-shaped crest and the shark's head.
  • The crest may have been used to scare off predators by looking like the mouth of a larger fish.
  • The brush-like part of the fin may have been inflatable, because its tubules resemble erectile tissue in humans.

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Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).