Mawsonia operculum (Gill Plate) #01

Description

A Mawsonia operculum (a bone which protects the gills) from the Kem Kem Beds of Morocco.  The last image shows a Mawsonia head, with the operculum on the right.

Mawsonia was a giant coelacanth fish which lived around 94 - 100 million years ago in what is now modern day North Africa, which at that time was dominated by mangrove forests and vast river systems leading out to the Tethys Sea (an ancient sea which existed between 250 and 50 million years ago, before the evolution of the indian ocean).  The region was also home to several large theropods, including the semi-aquatic dinosaur Spinosaurus which preyed upon fish like Mawsonia.

Condition: Good

Size: 2.5 inch

Age: 95 Million Years

Locality: Kem Kem Beds, Morocco