Captured: The remains of a flying reptile near to the jaws of an ancient armoured fish have surprised scientists who don't believe the fish would have feasted on the creatureScientist have discovered the fossil remains of an ancient armoured fish in the act of snaring its prey.
The remarkable find, dug in Bavaria, south Germany are some 120 millions years old, and show that despite having wings to get away, the long-tailed pterosaur wasn't out of bounds for carnivorous fish, aspidorhynchus.
The flying reptile's wings were found in or around the mouths of their 25-inch fish predators, suggesting that they may have been reeled in wing-first.
So before it had had time to digest its dinner, the flying reptile went on to be snared for someone else's meal!But scientists doubt whether the pterosaur was a regular part of the diet of the armoured fish, and suggest the attack could have been a mistake.
These couldn't have been missed; their wingspan was some 27-inches.
Incredibly, one of the remains of the pterosaur has another, smaller fish, leptolepides, seemingly lodged in it's throat.
Gone too soon: The reptile, whilst tussling with the armoured fish, hadn't even had time to digest the small fish (leptolepides) it had earlier capturedSpeaking to Live Science, researcher Eberhard Frey, a paleozoologist at the State Natural History Museum in Karlsruhe, Germany said: 'These animals normally have nothing to do with each other.
'Apparently these encounters were fatal for both of them.
'Fish sometimes don't take care with what they eat, because their brains are not very smart.'
'Occasionally you find fish that died because they ate another fish that was too big to get swallowed, and the same things happened here with these pterosaurs.'
It is thought the fish would have fought with the pterosaur for a while, before sinking into the low-oxygenated water where it will have suffocated.
source: dailymail
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