Kronosaurus Korner(RICHMOND, Queensland) — The skeleton of a 100 million-year-old fish “with an incredibly swordfish-like head and monstrous teeth” has been unearthed in the remote outback town of Richmond in Queensland, Australia, according to marine fossil museum Kronosaurus Korner.
One family found the “lance-like snout” of the ancient creature, while another family found its “complete skull, massive teeth, vertebrae and the front fins,” said Kronosaurus Korner curator and interpretation manager, Patrick Smith.
The newly discovered bones belong to a species called Australopachycormus hurleyi, a nearly 10-foot-long “swordfish-like predator with a pointed snout that was probably used to slash or stun prey,” Smith told ABC News Friday.
“Fossils of Australopachycormus are exceptionally rare, which is demonstrated by the fact that the species was only discovered less than a decade ago,” Smith said. “Previous to this find we had no near-complete remains of the animal in our museum.”
Smith added that without the help of the two families who found the fossils, “specimen such as this recent fish could easily [have] been lost or destroyed.”
The ancient fossil of the fish is currently on display at the museum, which showcases over 1,000 well-preserved fossils discovered in the inland area of the country.
Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
