Scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences recently discovered fossils of a new species of ancient fish in Qu-jing City, Yunnan Province. The fish, Sparalepis tingi, had unusual scales and lived 420 million years ago, proving that the earth had entered the ‘Age of Fishes’ during the Silurian period (444-419 million years ago). The findings were recent-ly published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE.

According to Zhu Min, lead author of the article and a researcher from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sparale-pis tingi was about 20 centime-tres long, its body covered with thick, hard diamond-shaped scales protecting it like a suit of armour. The part of its body in front of the first dorsal fin was covered with about 30 rows of these thick and interconnected scales.

In the Silurian period more than 400 million years ago—and the Devonian period that followed—what is today’s Qujing, Yunnan, was a warm equatorial beach and a para-dise for many animal phyla, especially vertebrates. (Xinhua News Agency)