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Hyneria
Hyneria
Hyneria eating a Stethacanthus, as seened in Walking with Monsters
Information
Range Red Hill Shale
Scientific Classification
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Class Sarcopterygii
Order Tristichopteridae
Family Tristichopteridae
Genus Hyneria
Species H. lindae
Conservation Status
EXSpecies
Extinct

The Hyneria was a prehistoric predatory lobe-finned fish that lived during the Devonian period around 360 million years ago. Size estimates have placed the length of the animal anywhere from two or three meters and four meters. In life, Hyneria could have weighed as much as two tons. It has been theorized that the fins of Hyneria were strong enough for the creature to haul itself onto land. It may have "beached itself" by using an air bladder meant to maintain buoyancy as primitive set of lungs.

In 1968, fossilized teeth, bones and a wall fin were found by Keith Thompson in the Red Hill Shale of Pennsylvania. Since the original discovery, many more specimens have been found. A complete skeleton, however, has never been recovered. Hyneria is considered the largest and most common lobe-finned fish found in the Red Hill Shale.

Etymology[]

Description[]

Discovery[]

In popular culture[]

Hyneria was featured in the BBC's television series Walking With Monsters. It featured a beached female Hyneria attempting to catch prey by sliding along the muddy ground like a walrus to catch two Hynerpeton (with the narrator explaining that it could "attack like a killer whale after a seal").

Hyneria also have a significant amount of attention paid to them in the 5-part NHK Documentary Miracle Planet.

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