Fossil of Ancient Flying Fish Discovered

Posted on November 1, 2012

Scientists have discovered the fossil of a flying fish in southwest China. The fish lived about 235 million years ago during the Middle Triassic. It arrived about ten to fifteen million years after the Permian mass extinction. Potanichthys xingyiensis is the oldest flying fish fossil ever found. An artist's interpretation of what the fish might have looked like it pictured above.

Here are some highlights about Potanichthys.

The body of Potanichthys was about six inches long.
It had four fins and a forked tail fin to help it glide above the water.
The large pectoral fins represent approximately 42.5% of its total body length.
It is not related to modern flying fish species, which means the flying fish ability has evolved independently more than once on Earth.
The fish may have been able to glide above the water for tens of meters.
The generic name, Potanichthys, comes from potanos (Greek), meaning "winged, flying," and ichthys (Greek), meaning "fish."
The species name, xingyiensis, comes from the city of Xingyi in China, where the fossil was found.

A research paper about the discovery was published here in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

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