Marine environment

Productus

Productus had a large cup-shaped shell and a smaller flat shell. Numerous thin spines stuck out of the rounded shell, and scientists believe that they functioned as anchors that held the shell fast to the ocean floor.

This species lived among reefs with sponges and other lampshells. These fossils were extracted from rocks with the help of acid.

Palaeoniscum freieslebeni

Palaeoniscum was about 35 centimetres long and shaped like a torpedo. That it was a fast swimmer can be seen from the deeply notched tail fin and the tall dorsal fin. Typical of early ray-finned fish such as Palaeoniscum are the thick scales made of bone tissue and coated with shiny enamel.

Pygopterus humboldti

Pygopterus was about 50 centimetres long and was one of the Permian’s larger predatory fish.

The metallic colour is typical of fossils found in the copper shales of Europe. The skeleton’s bone tissue has been replaced by copper sulphide minerals. Miners gave the name ”copper-shale pike” to fossils of Pygopterus — an apt designation, since the fossilized remains of other fish can be seen in their stomachs.

Palaeoniscum freieslebeni

Palaeoniscum was about 35 centimetres long and shaped like a torpedo. That it was a fast swimmer can be seen from the deeply notched tail fin and the tall dorsal fin.

Typical of early ray-finned fish such as Palaeoniscum are the thick scales made of bone tissue and coated with shiny enamel.

Palaeoniscum freieslebeni

Palaeoniscum was about 35 centimetres long and shaped like a torpedo. That it was a fast swimmer can be seen from the deeply notched tail fin and the tall dorsal fin.

Typical of early ray-finned fish such as Palaeoniscum are the thick scales made of bone tissue and coated with shiny enamel.

Tomiopsis

Tomiopsis had a smooth, thick shell and lived on sandy ocean bottoms. Inside the shell were various ridges that supported muscles and the digestive system.

Our specimens are preserved in two different ways. One shows the shell’s smooth outside. The other is a natural cast of Tomiopsis, and here one can see the internal ridges as slits and holes in the fossil.

Trigonotret

Trigonotreta lived in the oceans around the Gondwana supercontinent. Their shells resembled those of mussels, but they were not at all related to mussels. Inside a Trigonotreta shell was an arm with tentacles that filtered bacteria and plankton from ocean water.

Productus horridus

Productus had a large cup-shaped shell and a smaller flat shell. Numerous thin spines stuck out of the rounded shell, and scientists believe that they functioned as anchors that held the shell fast to the ocean floor.

This species lived on muddy bottoms. The spines which stuck down into the mud also functioned like snowshoes, supporting the animal’s weight and preventing it from being buried in the mud.

Neospirifer

Neospirifer was a large lampshell that lived in most oceans during the Permian. This particular specimen lived in cold water near the South Pole.

It filtered plankton from ocean water.

Tomiopsis

Tomiopsis had a smooth, thick shell and lived on sandy ocean bottoms. Inside the shell were various ridges that supported muscles and the digestive system.

Our specimens are preserved in two different ways. One shows the shell’s smooth outside. The other is a natural cast of Tomiopsis, and here one can see the internal ridges as slits and holes in the fossil.