Parmastega on the Hunt -- An Artist's Impression (IMAGE)

University of Lincoln

Parmastega on the Hunt -- An Artist's Impression

Caption

Pictured is a tropical coastal lagoon at Sosnogorsk in Russia, about 372 million years ago. The lagoon is inhabited by various kinds of fish, but also by the early tetrapod Parmastega. One of creatures -- which had eyes positioned at the top of their heads - can be seen on the bottom, with another in the foreground diving down from the surface (with bubbles). A few more are shown in the middle distance resting at the surface with their eyes above the water, and one in the background crawling onto the beach. In the far distance, a storm is approaching from the sea. The sediment in which the fossil bones are found seems to have been deposited during a storm event that killed the inhabitants of the lagoon.

Credit

Mikhail Shekhanov for the Ukhta Local Museum

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