Bringing Georgia's Natural History to Georgians
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      • Coastal Plain Core Logs by Paul F. Huddlestun
    • Presentation; Oaky Woods Stratigraphy
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    • Fossils of Oaky Woods
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    • I, Periarchus (A Fossil's Tale)
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    • My Field Kit; What You Need In The Field
    • Meet Crassostrea gigantissima, Georgia's Historic Giant Oyster
    • Georgiacetus Presentation; A Whale for Georgia
    • The Natural History & Fossils Record of Houston County, GA
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  • 1: Georgia's Oldest Fossils; Archaeocyathids, At 513 Million Years Old
  • 2: Trilobites; 500 Million Years Ago
    • 2A; Murray County Stromatolites
    • 2B; A Trilobite Nest in Georgia
  • 3: Geologic Time
  • 4: Our Oldest Vertebrate?
  • 5: Georgia Before the Dinosaurs
    • 5A; Georgia’s Pennsylvanian Plant Fossils
    • 5B: Carpentertypus durhami, Georgia’s Giant Insect, 315 Million Years Ago
  • 6: 200 Million Years Ago
    • 6A: Birth of the Atlantic Ocean
  • 7: Cretaceous Georgia, Dinosaurs & more
    • 7A: Georgias Pterosaur
    • 7C: Coelecanths
    • 7B: So Many Sharks
    • 7D: Xiphactinus vetus
    • 7E: Side-necked turtles
    • 7F: Marine Reptiles
    • 7G: Dinosaurs in Georgia
    • 7I; The Blufftown Formation
    • 7L: Bill Montante's Mega "Gator" Tooth Discovery
    • 7K: The Pio Nono Formation
    • 7J: The Eutaw Formation
    • 7H: Deinosuchus schwimmeri in Recognition of Dr. David Schwimmer
  • 8: Suwannee Current, Gulf Trough, & Bridgeboro Limestone
  • 9: The Clayton Formation Report; By Hank Josey
    • 9A: The Georgia Turtle
  • 10: The Eocene; Georgia's Oldest Mammals
    • 10A: The Origins of Whales
  • 11: A Whale For Georgia
  • 12: Basilosaurids; The First Modern Whales
    • 12A: Basilosaurus cetoides
    • 12B: Basilotritus
    • 12C: Cynthiacetus (Revised)
    • 12D: Chrysocetus
    • 12E: The Redmond Mandible of Albany Ga
    • 12F; Houston County, GA Basilosaurus to the Smithsonian
  • 13: Ziggy and The Museum of Arts & Sciences, Macon, GA
  • 14: Late Eocene
    • 14A: Eocene Fossils & Stratigraphy
    • 14B; Fossils, Impacts, & Tektites Dating the Clinchfield Formation
    • 14C: The Tivola Limestone
    • 14D: Twiggs Clay Vertebrates
    • 14F; Sandersville Limestone, By Hank Josey
    • 14E: Ocmulgee Formation Vertebrates
    • 14I: Dating Late Eocene Sediments
    • 14J: Georgia's Tektites; Georgiaites
    • 14K; Shell Bluff; Georgia's Most Historic Paleontology Site
    • 14L; Taylors Bluff, Paleo Paddling the Ocmulgee River
    • 14M; Eocene Terrestrial Mammals From Gordon, GA
    • 14N: Fossil Ridge, A Stratigraphic Study in Oaky Woods Wildlife Management Area
    • 14O; Georgia's First Entelodont
    • 14P: Historic Rich Hill
    • 14Q; Bibb County's Christy Hill, Clinchfield Formation Hilltop
  • 15: Early Oligocene
    • 15A: The Marianna Limestone
    • 15B; The Glendon Limestone
    • 15C: Undiffereniated Oligocene Residuum
    • 15D; Brissus bridgeboroensis; A New Echinoid Species From Georgia’s Bridgeboro Limestone
    • 15E: The Curious Steinkern Sea Biscuits of Red Dog Farm Road
    • 15F: Early Oligocene Gordian Knot
  • 16: Bonaire GA Entelodont
  • 17: The Whale Eating Shark
  • 18: Miocene Epoch; 23.3 to 5.3 Million Years Ago
    • 18A; Miocene Terrestrial Vertebrates
    • 18B; Paul Fell, Rockhouse Cave
    • 18C: The Marks Head Formation
    • 18D: Miocene Terrestrial Vertebrates of the Marks Head Formation
    • 18E: The Statenville Formation
    • 18F: South Georgia’s Dugong Metaxytherium calvertense
  • 19: Pliocene Epoch; 5.3 to 2.5 Million years Ago
    • 19A: Two Small Primitive Horses from Taylor County Advance the Science of Georgia Geology
  • 20: The Ice Ages; Pleistocene & Holocene Epochs
    • 20A; Clark Quarry's Mammoths & Bison
    • 20B: Pleistocene Vertebrate List
    • 20C: Georgia’s Eolian Dunes
    • 20D: Georgia’s Carolina Bays
    • 20E: Late Pleistocene Significant Events
    • 20F: Southeastern Thermal Enclave
    • 20G; Diamond Back Terrapins
    • 20H; A Kaolin Mine Beaver Dam
    • 20I; Pleistocene Vertebrate Fossils On Georgia’s Piedmont
    • 20J; Watkins Quarry Pleistocene Vertebrates, Glynn County, GA
  • *NEW* 20K: Pleistocene Vertebrates from Coastal Georgia
  • 21: Humans in Georgia
  • 22: Geology of the Coastal Plain, 1911
    • 22A: 1911 Cretaceous Fossil Locations
    • 22B: 1911 Eocene Fossil Locations
  • 23: Coastal GA Locations (1957)
  • 24: Needed; The Georgia Geologic Survey
  • Building This Site
    • Origins Of This Site
    • Contributing Artists
    • Black & White Sketches

​Chapter 7C; 
Megalocoelacanthus dobiei

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 A giant bony fish. A new species from Alabama and Georgia.

Beyond sharks and crocodylians, bony fish are also present in the Hannahatchee Creek fossil record; gar, bowfins, and the odd looking saber-toothed Enchodus petrosus are all well known.

There were also giants like Megalocoelacanthus dobiei (pronounced: mega-low-see-la-kanth-us dough-bee-ee). This is a new species Schwimmer’s team discovered and named from a wealth of fossils found in Alabama and Georgia.

Oddly, because of the large size of the remains many specimens housed in collections went unidentified or misidentified until a large mass of fossils from a single individual was found and confirmed as a new species.


Artist Xavier Sims created these compelling images of Megalocoelacanthus dobiei.  The Fish is believed to have fed in much the same manner as a modern giant grouper, through displacement of water, or essentially suction. Opening its large mouth a great volume was water is pulled into its maw, along with whatever prey happens to be too close to escape. Xavier has shown our predator stalking a three foot shark from behind then taking it in one great gulp. I’m grateful grateful for Xavier’s superb work. 

The Coelacanth fish family is famous as a “living fossil” thought to have gone extinct with the dinosaurs until a live specimen (of another species) was caught in 1938. Several additional specimens have since been caught and these fish have been filmed live in their habitat, YouTube has video clips. 

Currently there are two living deep water species known. 

Coelacanths emerged into the fossil record more than 300 million years ago. They are lobe finned fish, (Class: Sarcopterygii) which means that their fins are attached to the body by fleshy stalks supported by bone. This fin structure is not seen in other classes of fish; the distantly related coelacanths and lungfishes are the only living fish with lobe fins.


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Large specimens of the modern coelacanth species run about 1.6 meters ( 5.5 feet) long so Megalocoelacanthus dobiei, at 3.5 meters (11.5 feet), were true giants of their kind. 

The coelacanths in general are also interesting in the fact that like the goblin sharks we discussed earlier; once there were both deep water and coastal/shallow water species. Today only deep water species remain.

Reference:
Megaloceolacanthus dobiei from research paper, coelacanth information in general both from same paper and Wikipedia.

Giant Fossil Coelacanths of the late Cretaceous in the Eastern United States. David Schwimmer, J.D. Dent & G. Dent Williams. Geology, V.22, p.503-506. June 1994.

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