Helicoprion
Helicoprion davisii
Its tooth whorl makes Helicoprion one of the most recognisable Permian fish and one long reconstructed incorrectly.
Image: James St. John · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
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Characteristics
- Scientific name
- Helicoprion davisii
- Period
- Early Permian
- Lived
- 290–270 Ma (290 million years ago)
- Diet
- Piscivore
- Habitat
- Open sea
Description
Helicoprion was a cartilaginous-fish relative known chiefly from a spiral whorl of replacement teeth. The whorl was probably set deep in the lower jaw and worked as a cutting mechanism for soft prey, possibly cephalopods. As cartilage fossilises poorly, most of the rest of its skeleton is unknown. Older reconstructions placed the tooth whorl in various positions; scans and new finds have improved its interpretation.
Habitat
Open marine waters around Pangaea.
Fossil sites
Phosphoria Formation, Idaho
Phosphoria Formation
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Contemporaries in the database
Sources: Helicoprion