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The flying gurnard, Dactylopterus, moves to the base of the ray-fin fish

Friday, April 30, 2021 16:18

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Traditionally the flying gurnard,
Dactylopterus (Fig. 1), nests with sea horses and pipefish, even though, with those giant pectoral fins and free ‘fingers’ it looks more like the sea robin, Prionotus. This was one of those difficult-to-understand taxa, until it suddenly made sense.

Figure 1. Dactylopterus skull with colors added to match tetrapod taxa.

At last and finally,
toothless Dactylopterus nests with a very toothy basal ray fin fish, Calamopterus (Figs. 2-4).

Figure 2. Skull of Calamopleurus updated with new colors.

Figure 3. Calamopleurus skull from a different view.

Dactylopterus volitans
(Linneaus 1758; 50 cm; Fig. 1) is the extant flying gurnard, a bottom-feeder living in warm shallow seas. Typically Dactylopterus is allied with long-snouted pipefish and seahorses. Here it nests much earlier, with Calamopterus (Figs. 2-4). Note the remnant of the heterocercal tail (Fig. 5), a primitive trait. Like its tooth sister, Calamopterus, the skull of Dactylopterus has a wide and slightly concave box shape in cross section. The mouth is horizontal. The nares are vertical on the anterior corners of the skull created by robust prefrontals. Distinct from its sister, the teeth of Dactylopterus are tiny to absent.

Figure 4. Sauropsis longimanus from the Late Jurassic also nests with Calamopleurus and Dactylopterus.

References
Linnaeus C von 1758. Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata.
Agassiz L 1833-43. Recherches sur les poissons fossiles. Imprimerie de Petitpierre et Prince, Neuchâtel.

wiki/Calamopleurus
wiki/Flying_gurnard

Source: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2021/05/01/the-flying-gurnard-dactylopterus-moves-to-the-base-of-the-ray-fin-fish/

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