"Unique" new fish fossils found in Mexico

Adam Khor

Because these are rather small and not dinos, it is unlikely this will become international news so I'm translating the interesting parts:

A team of Mexican paleontologists have found four new Cretaceous fish species, measuring between 60 and 70 cms long. "We found species that had never been reported before so we had to create two new genera and four new species for these predatory fish" said Alberto Blanco-Piñon, who made the discovery.

These fish lived during the time of dinosaurs, specifically during the early Cretaceous epoch known as Turonian, between 89 and 93 million years ago. The new genera are Robertichthys and Vallecillichthys, and the new species are Goulmimichthys roberti, Rhynchodercetis regio, Vallecillichthys multivertebratum, and Robertichthys riograndensis.

"Everything we're digging up is new. We're working in several locations and (...) have hundreds of specimens from each one of them. In (the states of) Nuevo León and San Luis Potosí we have found remains of fish that may have been up to six meters long.

Among the new fish found, the Rhynchodercetis regio deserves special mention. It is 30 to 40 cms long but it has a rostrum modified into a sword, sometimes only the head and sword represent half of the body length.

Robertichthys riograndensis was also a predator, 60 to 70 cms long, with elongated jaws (...) and Vallecillichthys multivertebratum was about 1.20 meters and was associated with the Western Interior Sea, considered by some as the most dangerous sea in the planet's history, the one that produced the most devastating predators"

They also mention that Mexico may be the country with the most experts on prehistoric fish, even despite paleontologists in general being scarce in the country.

Galvasean

A sword coming out of its head eh? that western interior sea was a mad place altogether...