Discovered the world's oldest 244 million-year-old bony fish fossil in China

Paleontologists found three of the oldest known bony fish specimens in the Guanling Formation in Yunnan province.

As described in the journal PeerJ , the fossils belong to a new predatory fish called Peltoperleidus asiaticus that lived during the Middle Triassic . They were only a few centimeters long and had many of the same features as the prehistoric ray-finned Perleidus, such as sharp teeth, short snouts, and rows of deep scales.

A special feature of Peltoperleidus asiaticus is that it has a lower jaw that "hangs" below the skull, allowing it to open its mouth wide to catch prey. The dorsal and pelvic fins are also more flexible, allowing it to swim significantly faster than its ray-finned relative Perleidus.

Peltoperleidus asiaticus was the first representative of the genus Peltoperleidus outside of Europe. Previously, fossils of this genus of bony fish were found only in southern Switzerland and northern Italy.

The new discovery also pushes the fossil record of Peltoperleidus back 2 million years earlier. While the oldest specimen in Europe dates to around 242 million years, analysis of the Guanling fossils shows that Peltoperleidus asiaticus appeared on Earth at least 242 million years ago.

In addition to the three Peltoperleidus specimens, the team found more than 20 fossils of other aquatic vertebrates, demonstrating the high biodiversity of the Guanling Formation in the past.