Fig. 122—Incomplete Head-Shield of Thyestes magnificus, Chapm.
From the Silurian (Yeringian) of Wombat Creek, N.E. Gippsland.
4/5 nat. size
| Fig. 123. Gyracanthides murrayi, A. S. Woodw. L. Carboniferous. Mansfield, Victoria. (Restoration). About 1/12 nat. size |
Fig. 124—TEETH and SCALES of PALAEOZOIC and MESOZOIC FISHES.
A—Strepsodus decipiens, A. S. Woodw. L. Carboniferous. Victoria
B—Elonichthys sweeti, A. S. Woodw. L. Carboniferous. Victoria
C—Corax australis, Chapm. L. Cretaceous. Queensland
D—Belouostomus sweeti, Eth. fil. and Woodw. L. Cretaceous. Q.
Carboniferous Fishes.—
The Lower Carboniferous sandstone of Burnt Creek and other localities near Mansfield, Victoria, contains an abundant fish fauna, associated with stems of Lepidodendron. The slabs of sandstone are often ripple-marked and show signs of tracks and castings of shore-living animals. These deposits were probably laid down in shallow water at the shore margin or in salt lagoons or brackish areas skirting the coast, into which at intervals the remains of the giant lycopods were drifted. The more important of these fish remains are Elasmobranchs, as Gyracanthides murrayi ([Fig. 123]) and Acanthodes australis; the Dipnoan, Ctenodus breviceps; a Rhizodont or fringe-finned ganoid, Strepsodus decipiens ([Fig. 124 A]); and a genus related to Palaeoniscus, Elonichthys (E. sweeti, Fig. 124 B, and E. gibbus). The defence spines of Gyracanthides are fairly abundant in the sandstones; whilst on some slabs the large enamelled scales of Strepsodus are equally conspicuous.