Pachycormid fish fed on octobrachian cephalopods: new evidence from the ‘Schistes bitumineux’ (early Toarcian) of southern Luxembourg

Abstract A re-examination of the early Toarcian fish fossils preserved in public paleontological collections in Luxembourg revealed 70 specimens of large Toarcian pachycormid fish with an excellent three-dimensional preservation within calcareous nodules. Six of them are associated with octobrachian coleoid gladii in their oesophagus or stomach, an association not previously described from Luxembourg. The pachycormids are ascribed to Pachycormus macropterus (Blainville, 1818) and Saurostomus esocinus Agassiz, 1843 while the octobrachian gladii are ascribed to Teudopsis bollensis Voltz, 1836, T... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Robert Weis
Dominique Delsate
Christian Klug
Thodoris Argyriou
Dirk Fuchs
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2024
Reihe/Periodikum: Swiss Journal of Palaeontology, Vol 143, Iss 1, Pp 1-16 (2024)
Verlag/Hrsg.: SpringerOpen
Schlagwörter: Toarcian food web / Predator–prey relationship / Pachycormidae / Loligosepiidae / Teudopsiidae / Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event / Fossil man. Human paleontology / GN282-286.7 / Paleontology / QE701-760
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-29104077
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://doi.org/10.1186/s13358-023-00295-1

Abstract A re-examination of the early Toarcian fish fossils preserved in public paleontological collections in Luxembourg revealed 70 specimens of large Toarcian pachycormid fish with an excellent three-dimensional preservation within calcareous nodules. Six of them are associated with octobrachian coleoid gladii in their oesophagus or stomach, an association not previously described from Luxembourg. The pachycormids are ascribed to Pachycormus macropterus (Blainville, 1818) and Saurostomus esocinus Agassiz, 1843 while the octobrachian gladii are ascribed to Teudopsis bollensis Voltz, 1836, Teudopsis sp. indet. and Loligosepiidae indet. The position and orientation of the gladii provide direct evidence of these fishes feeding on coleoids and thus a teuthophagous diet, rather than an accidental joint burial. Together with evidence from coeval deposits in Germany, these findings suggest that teuthophagy was a widespread feeding strategy at the base of the clade that contains the suspension-feeding pachycormid giants of the Jurassic–Cretaceous.