5.9" Devonian Lobe-Finned Fish (Osteolepis) Fossil - Scotland

Devonian Lobe-Finned Fish (Osteolepis) Fossil - Scotland #243498

This is a 5.9" long specimen of the Devonian "Lobe-Finned" fish, Osteolepis macrolepidotus. It was collected from the Sandwick Fish Bed in the Old Red Sandstone in the Orkney Isles of Scotland.

It comes with an acrylic display stand.

Osteolepis ('bone scale') is an extinct genus of lobe-finned fish from the Devonian period. It lived in the ancient Lake Orcadie of northeastern Scotland. Osteolepis averaged about 20 centimeters (7.9 inches) long, and was covered with large, square scales. The scales and plates on its head were covered in a thin layer of spongy, bony material called cosmine. This layer contained canals connected to sensory cells deeper in the skin and ended in pores on the surface: they were probably for sensing vibrations in the water.

Artist's reconstruction of Osteolepis. Creative Commons, by Nobu Tamura (http://spinops.blogspot.com)

Osteolepis was a rhipidistian with a number of features in common with tetrapods (land-dwelling vertebrates and their descendants). They were likely close to the base of the tetrapod family tree.