Dapedium
Name: Dapedium.
Phonetic: Da-pee-de-um.
Named By: Leach - 1822.
Synonyms: Aechmodus, Amblyurus,
Dapedius cycloides, Dapedius politus, Omalopleurus,
Tetragonolepis angulifer, Tetragonolepis dorsalis, Tetragonolepis
magnevillei, Tetragonolepis pholidotus, Tetragonolepis radiatus.
Classification: Chordata, Osteichthyes,
Semionotiformes, Dapediidae.
Species: D. caelatum, D. granulatum,
D. noricum, D. pholidotum, D. politum, D. punctatum,
D. stollorum, D. angulifer, D. caelatus, D. colei, D.
dorsalis, D. magnevillei, D. milloti, D. orbis, D.
pholidotus, D. punctatus, D. radiatus.
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Between 9 and 40 centimetres long,
depending upon the species.
Known locations: Across Europe.
Time period: Rhaetian of the Triassic through to the
Toarcian of the Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Multiple individuals.
The
Dapedium genus of fish seem to have been among the
most common in the
seas of the late Triassic and early Jurassic. The body was deep and
round and depending upon he species could be anywhere between nine and
forty centimetres long, with the species D. noricum
currently known
to be the smallest. The body was covered with large well developed
ganoid scales while the skull was also armoured with dermal plates.
The pectoral and pelvic fins were small in relation to the body,
which suggests that Dapedium were not especially
fast swimming fish.
Dapedium
had small but robust teeth with additional crushing teeth on the
palate. These teeth are suggestive of a diet that included small
shelled molluscs and crustaceans, a diet that also supports a slower
less active lifestyle and therefore lack of a need for faster swimming
adaptations.
Further reading
- Hypsisomatic Semionotidae (Pisces, Actinopterygii) from the
Upper Triassic of Lombardy (N. Italy). - A. Tintori -
1983.
- A new species of Dapedium Leach, 1822
(Actinopterygii,
Neopterygii, Semionotiformes) from the Early Jurassic of south
Germany. - D. Thies & R. B. Hauff - 2011.
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