The Santana Formation, in northeast Brazil, is one of the richest fossil deposits in the world. All of the fossil fishes in this display in the Museum's Hall of Ocean Life came from the Formation, where they lived 110 million years ago in a shallow inland sea. At that time Africa and South America had only just drifted apart, and were still located close to each other.
These fossils were actually preserved with their stomach contents intact, enabling us to see exactly what the fishes last ate. Such details offer scientists an exceedingly rare opportunity to reconstruct the food chain of this community of extinct fishes. We know what preyed on what, and have thus learned about the ecology of the community, including its population structure and dynamics.
These Brazilian fossil fishes bring the ancient past vividly to life.
Scientists from the American Museum of Natural History, in collaboration with colleagues in Brazil, continue to take advantage of the virtually unparalleled of opportunities offered by the Santana Formation to study the interrelationships of extinct species.
|
