THE Bearsden Shark, an affectionately named fossil discovered near Glasgow two decades ago, has finally been officially revealed as a new species of fish, and named akmonistion zangerli, more than 330 million years after it became extinct.
The akmonistion zangerli has been on display in the city's Hunterian Museum for almost 20 years, but was known simply as the Bearsden Shark because of where it was found.
It was excavated by Stan Wood, a Scottish fossil collector, in 1981 and has since been studied in microscopic detail and compared with other fossil shark remains from around the world.
Its new scientific name - akmonistion is from Greek meaning ''anvil sail'' and zangerli is from the name of a fossil specialist - was announced yesterday to show it is different from all other previously discovered animals, whether fossilised or living.
The discovery that it was a new species was made by Mike Coats, of Chicago University, and Sany Sequeira, of Birkbeck College, London, whose re-search is published in the Journal of Paleontology.
The fossil is the best preserved shark of its time. Although it was identified as being a variety of stethacanthus, scientists knew no more about its genus or species.
From the tip of its nose to the end of its tail, the shark's cartilage skeleton is still intact after spending 330 million years locked in a muddy swamp in Bearsden. Even the partially digested remains of its last meal are inside the one-metre long fossil.
Neil Clark, curator of palaeontology at the Hunterian Museum, said: ''Three hundred and thirty million years ago, there was a brackish water lagoon extending at least from Dalry to Milton of Campsie and south of East Kilbride. The fossils are so exceptionally well preserved that I have even found the remains of muscles and blood vessels preserved in some.
''The shark, along with other animals, must have become buried in thick soupy oxygen-deficient black mud rapidly, preventing scavengers from de- stroying these unique fossils. Although the fossil has been given a new name, I am sure it will continue to be affectionately called the Bearsden shark.''
It is on display at the museum, which is open from 9.30am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article