Belantsea montana
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| Belantsea montana Fossil range: Lower Carboniferous |
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| Belantsea montana Lesueur, 1818 |
Belantsea montana (named after a legendary ancestor of the Crow Nation) was a peculiar-looking cartilaginous fish that lived during the Lower Carboniferous. Its fossils are found in the Bear Gulch Limestone lagerstätte. Its body was oddly built, being leaf-shaped, with muscular fins and a small tail. Such a bodyplan would allow for great maneuverability, but at the cost of speedy cruising. Its few, large, triangular teeth formed a beak-like arrangement that allowed it to graze bryozoans, sponges, crinoids and other encrusting animals.
B. montana is the best known of a group of bizarre cartilaginous fish known as the "Petalodontiformes."
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