''Squatinactis'' is a genus of extinct

elasmobranch Elasmobranchii () is a subclass of Chondrichthyes or cartilaginous fish, including modern sharks ( division Selachii), and batomorphs (division Batomorphi, including rays, skates, and sawfish). Members of this subclass are characterised by h ...

chondrichthyan Chondrichthyes (; ) is a class (biology), 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 ...

known from the

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...

aged

Bear Gulch Limestone The Bear Gulch Limestone is a limestone-rich Lens (geology), geological lens in central Montana, renowned for the quality of its marine fossils from the late Mississippian (geology), Mississippian subperiod, about 324 million years ago. It is expo ...

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

. This fish was discovered in 1974 by Richard Lund. The

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wikt:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to ancho ...

, named CMNH 46133, consists of a

brain case In human anatomy, the neurocranium, also known as the braincase, brainpan, brain-pan, or brainbox, is the upper and back part of the skull, which forms a protective case around the brain. In the human skull, the neurocranium includes the calv ...

, poorly preserved jaws and

gill A gill () is a respiration organ, respiratory organ that many aquatic ecosystem, aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow r ...

s, a

pectoral fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish aquatic locomotion, swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the vertebral column ...

, and a partial vertebral axis. This creatures most startling feature were its broad

pectoral fins Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported only b ...

which resembled those of

stingray Stingrays are a group of sea Batoidea, rays, a type of cartilaginous fish. They are classified in the suborder Myliobatoidei of the order Myliobatiformes and consist of eight families: Hexatrygonidae (sixgill stingray), Plesiobatidae (deepwate ...

s and angel sharks ( ''Squatina''). The holotype specimen has about 15

teeth A tooth (: teeth) is a hard, calcified structure found in the jaws (or mouths) of many vertebrates and used to break down food. Some animals, particularly carnivores and omnivores, also use teeth to help with capturing or wounding prey, tear ...

in its jaw. This creature is named after the angel shark. Remains found in the South Urals of Russia and the Eyam Limestone of

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, England, have been tentatively identified as those belonging to ''S. caudispinatus.''

Description

''Squatinactis'' had a flattened body with a set of large

. This fish was vaguely similar to today's

stingrays Stingrays are a group of sea rays, a type of cartilaginous fish. They are classified in the suborder Myliobatoidei of the order Myliobatiformes and consist of eight families: Hexatrygonidae (sixgill stingray), Plesiobatidae (deepwater stin ...

and angel sharks. The fins were oddly pointed forward, with a length of around two feet long. It also had a long, whip-like tail with a spine (a feature analogous to some rays) that was actually a modified, secondary

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found ...

. The snout was short and the wide mouth was equipped with a series of long conical

cladodont This is a typical Cladodont tooth, of a Glikmanius.html" ;"title="shark called ''Glikmanius">shark called ''Glikmanius'' Cladodont (from Latin cladus, meaning branch and Greek Odon, meaning tooth) is the term for a common category of early Devoni ...

-shaped teeth. The body was covered in a few

placoid A fish scale is a small rigid plate that grows out of the skin of a fish. The skin of most jawed fishes is covered with these protective scales, which can also provide effective camouflage through the use of reflection and colouration, as we ...

scales, but most of the surface was bare.

Classification

Because of the bizarre nature of ''Squatinactis,'' it is somewhat difficult to classify. In the original study conducted in 1974, Lund noted that the teeth of this fish are

Cladodont This is a typical Cladodont tooth, of a Glikmanius.html" ;"title="shark called ''Glikmanius">shark called ''Glikmanius'' Cladodont (from Latin cladus, meaning branch and Greek Odon, meaning tooth) is the term for a common category of early Devoni ...

is design, however the term "cladodont" is used to describe many

Paleozoic The Paleozoic ( , , ; or Palaeozoic) Era is the first of three Era (geology), geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic (the last era of the Proterozoic Eon) and ends 251.9 Ma a ...

chondrichthyans based on their teeth and not

phylogeny A phylogenetic tree or phylogeny is a graphical representation which shows the evolutionary history between a set of species or Taxon, taxa during a specific time.Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, M ...

(including ''

Cladoselache ''Cladoselache'' ("branch shark") is an Extinction, extinct genus of shark-like chondrichthyan (cartilaginous fish) from the Late Devonian (Famennian) of North America. It was similar in body shape to modern Lamnidae, lamnid sharks (such as Isuru ...

'', ''

Ctenacanthus ''Ctenacanthus'' (from , 'comb' and , 'spine') is an extinct genus of ctenacanthiform chondrichthyan. Remains have been found in the Bloyd Formation (Carboniferous Period) of Arkansas and the Cleveland Shale (Devonian Period) of Ohio in the U ...

'', and ''

Dracopristis ''Dracopristis'' (meaning 'dragon shark') is an extinct genus of Ctenacanthiformes, ctenacanth (a group of shark-like Chondrichthyes, cartilaginous fish) that lived during the Carboniferous Geologic time scale, period in North America, around K ...

''). This fish is currently classified within the

Elasmobranchii Elasmobranchii () is a subclass of Chondrichthyes or cartilaginous fish, including modern sharks ( division Selachii), and batomorphs (division Batomorphi, including rays, skates, and sawfish). Members of this subclass are characterised by h ...

, more specially in its own grouping, the Squatinactiformes.

Ecology

This fish was probably a

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning "the depths". ...

predator; it probably lived half-buried in the sand and suddenly emerged to throw itself against the prey swimming nearby. The wing-like fins and long tail were most likely useful for propulsion from the seabed. The flattened body plan is typical of bottom-dwelling predators, and is known in a large number of cartilaginous fish, both

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 ...

and

extant Extant or Least-concern species, least concern is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Exta ...

References

Prehistoric cartilaginous fish genera Fossil taxa described in 1974 Elasmobranchii {{paleo-cartilaginous-fish-stub