Hong Kong’s First Dinosaur-Era Fish Identified

An undergraduate student has helped to identify the first vertebrate fossil from the Jurassic era to be discovered in Hong Kong.

AsianScientist (Apr. 7, 2015) – A ~147 million-year-old Jurassic-aged fish from outcrops at Lai Chi Chong has been described in the journal PeerJ. This fossil represents the first dinosaur-era fish–as well as vertebrate–from Hong Kong to be identified.

The fossil was rediscovered in the collections of the Stephen Hui Geological Museum by Mr. Edison Tse Tze-kei, a recent graduate from the University of Hong Kong (HKU). Tse studied the specimen under the supervision of Research Assistant Professor Dr. Michael Pittman who leads the University’s Vertebrate Palaeontology Laboratory, as well as Professor Chang Mee-mann, an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology.

The fossil consists of the posterior portion of a small fish from the genus Paralycoptera which was collected at Lai Chi Chong, Tolo Channel, from rocks that have been previously radiometrically dated to 146.6 ± 0.2 million years old (Tithonian stage of the Late Jurassic).

Paralycoptera is a typical member of the Mesoclupea fish fauna of Southeast China. Its discovery in Hong Kong extends the geographic range of the genus—and potentially of the Mesoclupea fish fauna—by about 700 km further south. The Jurassic-age of the Hong Kong specimen extends the temporal range of the genus about 40 million years back in time because all mainland specimens are currently known from the Early Cretaceous.

Hong Kong’s last major vertebrate fossil identification was the discovery of a ~370 million-year-old early fish (Devonian-aged placoderm fish) by Mr. Lee Cho-min 35 years ago on the north shore of Tolo Channel, almost directly opposite to Lai Chi Chong.

“The fossil’s Late Jurassic age also adds support to the hypothesis that osteoglossomorph fish originated on the portion of the ancient supercontinent of Pangaea (which broke apart about 200 million years ago) that is now East Asia,” notes Pittman.

“Our Paralycoptera specimen appears to have lived in a tropical-subtropical freshwater lake that was periodically subjected to catastrophic volcanic eruptions and earthquakes,” Tse adds.

It is hoped that this discovery will lead to further palaeontological research efforts in Hong Kong, and will build upon efforts to preserve and appreciate Hong Kong’s geological heritage.

The article can be found at: Tse et al. (2015) A Specimen of Paralycoptera Chang & Chou 1977 (Teleostei: Osteoglossoidei) from Hong Kong (China) with a Potential Late Jurassic age that Extends the Temporal and Geographical Range of the Genus.

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Source: The University of Hong Kong.
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