Diversity of Jurassic marine fish.

Aspidorhynchus acutirostris

These fish had scales covered with shiny enamel, like several of the other species in the display.

Aspidorhynchus was a slender, fast-swimming fish that could be up to 60 centimetres long. It hunted other fish, and big individuals could even catch pterosaurs.  

Leptolepides sprattiformis

Leptolepides sprattiformis means ”delicate herring-like scales”. It got that name because its scales were very thin, unlike those of more primitive fish.

It was one of the first modern fish species and was common in the oceans during the latter part of the Jurassic Period. Like herring, it lived in schools and fed on plankton.

Leptolepides sprattiformis

Leptolepides sprattiformis means ”delicate herring-like scales”. It got that name because its scales were very thin, unlike those of more primitive fish. It was one of the first modern fish species and was common in the oceans during the latter part of the Jurassic Period. Like herring, it lived in schools and fed on plankton.

Leptolepides sprattiformis

Leptolepides sprattiformis means ”delicate herring-like scales”. It got that name because its scales were very thin, unlike those of more primitive fish.

It was one of the first modern fish species and was common in the oceans during the latter part of the Jurassic Period. Like herring, it lived in schools and fed on plankton.

Dapedium

Dapedium lived in the ocean that covered what is now Europe. It had an oval-shaped body with long pectoral and anal fins. That, combined with its short and powerful tail section, enabled it to quickly change direction, an indication that it lived in areas of coral reefs.

Dapedium sucked its food out from the shells of mussels and sea urchins. 

Caturus furcatus

The large and deeply forked tail fin shows that Caturus was a fast-swimming predator. The biggest fish in the lagoons of Solnhofen, it could be up to some two metres in length, making it the largest predator along with the shark Hybodus. Only ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs were larger.

Name

This fossil is of a spine which sat in front of the dorsal fin of a large Hybodus shark that was over two metres long. It was a predator with a characteristically streamlined body.

The shark had two different kinds of teeth: the sharper were for catching slippery fish, and the flat teeth were for crushing the shells of molluscs and shellfish.

Sharks of the genus Hybodus were common during the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods; they lived in shallow waters all over the world.

Belemnobatis sismondae

The body of this species resembles both a shark’s and a ray’s. Its back is like a shark’s, with two dorsal fins and small spikes. The pectoral fins formed wings, but were smaller than those of other rays. These features show that rays evolved from sharks during the Jurassic Period. Sharks evolved 250 million years before rays.

Lepidotes semiserratus

The genus Lepidotes was common in the ocean that covered what is now Europe. Lepidotes had many peg-like teeth for crushing the shells of molluscs. It was among the first fish that could suck in their prey, just as many fish do today. But its most special feature was its covering of thick enamelled scales, an evolutionary remnant of its ancestors from the Permian Period.

Tharsis dubius

Tharsis dubius was a herring-like fish that fed on plankton and was common in the lagoons of Solnhofen. The deeply forked tail fin shows that it was a rapid swimmer.

Both Tharsis and Leptolepides, which you can see in the same display case, were prey of larger fish, ammonites and pterosaurs.

Tharsis dubius

Tharsis dubius was a herring-like fish that fed on plankton and was common in the lagoons of Solnhofen. The deeply forked tail fin shows that it was a rapid swimmer.

Both Tharsis and Leptolepides, which you can see in the same display case, were prey of larger fish, ammonites and pterosaurs.