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''Lebachacanthus'' is a genus of
Like most other xenacanthids, this genus possessed an array of spines arising from the dorsal fins. It exceeded and even could reach . The genus is often confused with the similar genus '' Orthacanthus''; the two genera belong to entirely separate families. The teeth of this fish were multi-cusped, with the central cusp flanked by two sharp accessory "tines" on which its prey would be impaled and trapped, in preparation for being swallowed whole. It had an abundance of pectoral fins, two next to the head, two in the middle, one near the end, and one under the caudal fin.
extinct
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
xenacanth cartilaginous fish
Chondrichthyes (; ) is a class of jawed fish that contains the cartilaginous fish or chondrichthyans, which all have skeletons primarily composed of cartilage. They can be contrasted with the Osteichthyes or ''bony fish'', which have skeleto ...
known from the late Carboniferous-Early Permian of Europe. Well-preserved specimens, originally identified as '' Orthacanthus'', are known from Meisenheim Formation in Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. During the late Paleozoic, xenacanths were the apex predators of freshwater ecosystems, preying on small amphibian
Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...
s.
Description
Like most other xenacanthids, this genus possessed an array of spines arising from the dorsal fins. It exceeded and even could reach . The genus is often confused with the similar genus '' Orthacanthus''; the two genera belong to entirely separate families. The teeth of this fish were multi-cusped, with the central cusp flanked by two sharp accessory "tines" on which its prey would be impaled and trapped, in preparation for being swallowed whole. It had an abundance of pectoral fins, two next to the head, two in the middle, one near the end, and one under the caudal fin.
Paleobiology
''Lebachacanthus'' patrolled both fresh and marine waters, possibly preying on larvae of the temnospondyli and acanthodians. The genus displayssexually dimorphic
Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...
features; females had longer fin spines than males. Histological and biometric analyses of the spines of specimens provides information on the development and age at death of the fish and the environmental conditions in which they lived.
References
Further reading
* {{Taxonbar, from1=Q110324110 Xenacanths Permian cartilaginous fish