Leedsichthys
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| Leedsichthys Temporal range: Middle Jurassic | |
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| Leedsichthys with scuba-diver for scale | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Pachycormiformes |
| Family: | Pachycormidae |
| Genus: | Leedsichthys |
| Binomial name | |
| Leedsichthys problematicus | |
Leedsichthys problematicus, ("leeds fish") was a giant fossil fish of the Jurassic period. It was a pachycormid, a group of extinct ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii). Leedsichthys is the largest fish known, with an estimated length of up to 16 meters.[1] The blue whale is twice as long, at 30 metres, but that is a mammal, not a fish.
Leedsichthys fossils are incomplete, making it impossible to know the exact length. The fossil is named after its discoverer, Alfred Nicholson Leeds, who discovered it before 1886 near Peterborough, England.[1] No full fossil is known, mainly because parts of the skeleton were made of cartilage, which does not fossilise. The front of the snout was made of cartilage.
Food[change | change source]
Like the world's biggest fish today, the whale shark, the Leedsichthys problematicus was a filter feeder, getting its nutrition from plankton. Remains of over 70 individuals have now been found.[1]
References[change | change source]
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