Welcome to our project blog!
This is my first entry, and I would like to kick off with news about a fossil sawfish, found in the ENCI quarry near Maestricht, the Netherlands.
Translated from the article in Dutch:
''Thursday, December 19, 2013 11:11
Fossil sawfish snout, an unique discovery
In the marl quarry of ENCI, Maastricht, the snout , a so-called rostrum, of a fossil sawfish was found.
To our knowledge, this is the first discovery of a rostrum of the species Ganopristis leptodon , according to The Brabants Dagblad (the local newspaper). The fish lived 66 million years ago.
A sawfish is a huge skate with a long, flat snout, with teeth which protrude from the side of the snout at regular intervals. Sawfishes belong to the cartilaginous fish, meaning they don't have bone tissue. After their death only their teeth remain, because the cartilage decays.
The fossil snout was investigated at the Jeroen Bosch Hospital in Den Bosch, using a CT scanner. Since limestone is a relatively soft stone, researchers were afraind to damage the fossil. The three-dimensional image resulting from the CT scan, helps the investigators to virtually dissect the fossil from the rock, without damaging the fossil. ''
Link to the news and photos: http://nos.nl/artikel/588426-snuit-fossiele-zaagvis-gevonden.html
http://www.heidelbergcement.com/benelux/nl/enci/press_en_media/Zaagvis.htm
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