Kingdom Animalia Species †A. paradoxum Rank Genus | Class Actinopterygii Phylum Chordata Order Flatfish | |
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Similar Flatfish, Spiny turbot, Eobothus, Samaridae, Symphurus thermophilus | ||
Amphistium paradoxum, the only species classified under the genus Amphistium, is a fossil fish which has been identified as an early relative of the flatfish, and as a transitional fossil. In a typical modern flatfish, the head is asymmetric with both eyes on one side of the head. In Amphistium, the transition from the typical symmetric head of a vertebrate is incomplete, with one eye placed near the top of the head.
Amphistium is among the many fossil fish species known from the Monte Bolca Lagerstätte of Lutetian Italy. Heteronectes is a related, and very similar fossil from a slightly earlier strata of France.
References
Amphistium Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA