A paleontologist from the University of Portsmouth found a fossilized sturgeon in Morocco, the first in Africa, currently estimated to be over 66 million years old.
Historically, this species has been found in the colder seas of the Northern Hemisphere; Nevertheless, the fossil of the royal fish discovered in Africa is the first of its kind to be discovered on the continent.
Professor David Martill discovered the fossil while visiting a well-known Moroccan fossil site on a field trip to Morocco in November of last year.
The professor reportedly discovered a piece of rock with bucklers—the bony exterior plates present on these heavily armored fish—and declared, “I knew straight away it was a sturgeon”, according to the Mirage News.
The new Moroccan species, according to the professor of palaeobiology, makes it more difficult to pinpoint the origin of this significant group of fish that is not generally seen in this area.
The specimen is currently at the King Hassan II University’s collection in Casablanca.
The professor was surprised by the discovery of the fossil because “all sturgeon species have historically been exclusively found in the Northern Hemisphere.”
The professor said that sturgeon fossils had only ever been discovered in North America, Europe, Russian Asia, and Chinese Asia, never in South America, Australia, Africa, or India, the continents that once made up the supercontinent Gondwana, which first appeared about 336 million years ago and started to fragment about 150 million years ago.
The fossil’s discovery in Africa gave rise to the hypothesis that sturgeons were more common than previously believed.
Sturgeon, according to Professor Martill, are frequently thought of as living fossils since their ancestors lived more than 200 million years ago, at the time that dinosaurs were active.
Although they are extremely rare in modern times, sturgeons have the potential to reach lengths of up to seven meters and weights of 1.5 tons.
Due to the value of their meat and row, which is consumed as caviar, sturgeons are highly endangered and on the point of extinction in the world as a result of overfishing and habitat degradation.
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