#tachynectes

[knuppitalism-with-ue]

We know little about the deep sea environments of the Mesozoic but one place where we can get a glimpse into this world is the Münsterland basin. We have here several localities that preserved shallow and deep water animals side by side, caused by underwater landslides. These carried stuff from the rim of the basin and buried them in the deep with other material that was down there.

Tachynectes here is a very early lanternfish. Flattened lanternfishes are no longer a thing these days and we actually have lanternfishes from these localities that show their photophores preserved. We know where they glowed!

[justgoji]

Eurhinosaurus, Phosphorosaurus, Dakosaurus, Gebrayelichthys, Mixosaurus, Palaeoctopus, Coccosteus, Nectocaris, and Tachynectes!