Big, toothy fish found in Nev. chomped prey like sharks
The Birgeria americana predates Nevada’s most famous fossil, the Ichthyosaur, by more than 30 million years. Photo/University of Zurich
By Benjamin Spillman, Reno Gazette-Journal
If fishing reports existed 250 million years ago they probably would have warned anglers to bring extra sturdy line to Northern Nevada.
That’s because newly described fossil evidence shows the warm waters of the time were home to a toothy apex predator that chomped its prey like a modern shark.
“The surprising find from Elko County in northeastern Nevada is one of the most completely preserved vertebrate remains from this time-period ever discovered in the United States,” said Carlo Romano of the University of Zurich, lead author of a Journal of Paleontology article about the find.
