image: Kenshu Shimada (left; DePaul University, Chicago) and Mike Everhart (right; Sternberg Museum, Fort Hays State University) collect a specimen of Bonnerichthys in rocks more than 70 million years old in western Kansas. This giant fish appears to have occupied the same functional role as modern whales, feeding on plankton, the smallest animals in the sea. This image relates to an article that appeared in the Feb. 19, 2010, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The study, by Dr. M. Friedman at University of Oxford in Oxford, UK, and colleagues, was titled, "100-Million-Year Dynasty of Giant Planktivorous Bony Fishes in the Mesozoic Seas." view more
Credit: Image courtesy of M. J. and P. A. Everhart