Fish

This superb specimen was found at the stratagraphic location of the Otter Sandstone Formation, and at the geographical location of Sidmouth Bay. It was donated to RAMM by Patrick Spencer. This distinctive, rusty-red coloured formation outcrops along the south coast of Devon between Budleigh Salterton and Sidmouth and extends north east into Somerset. This extinct genus of prehistoric freshwater fish lived in lakes and rivers about 235-245 million years ago, during the middle Triassic. At this time in history Britain as we know it was not yet formed and was located on the edge of the supercontinent of Pangea about ten degrees north of the equator. The scales and fins are exceptionally well preserved in very fine-grained ancient mud, however the skull is missing. Scientists used these particular specimens to more accurately record the species, based on the unique scale ornamentation.