European paleontologists have described a new species of spiny shark that lived about 408 million years ago during the Devonian period.

Machaeracanthus goujeti (SINC)

The new species, named Machaeracanthus goujeti, belongs to Acanthodii (spiny sharks), an extinct type of fish that resembles both sharks and bony fish.

Fossilized scales and bones of Machaeracanthus were found in Teruel, south of Zaragoza, Spain.

“The discovery of this new species, which we call Machaeracanthus goujeti and belongs to the Acanthodii group, expands our knowledge of the biodiversity that existed on the peninsula 480 million years ago, when the modern-day region of Teruel was covered by the sea,” said Prof Héctor Botella from the University of Valencia, lead author of a paper desribing the new species in the journal Geodiversitas.

The paleontologists estimate that adult Machaeracanthus goujeti were not more than 3.3 feet (1 m) long.

“This is just estimation because there are animals that can have large bones and be small, and vice versa.”

“They must have lived in an epicontinental sea – an extensive but shallow salt water mass, and it is therefore possible that this area was used as a breeding ground,” Prof Botella said.

Source: sci.news