Belantsea
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(Redirected from Belantsea montana)
| Belantsea Temporal range: Lower Carboniferous |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Chondrichthyes |
| Order: | Petalodontiformes |
| Family: | Belantseidae |
| Genus: | Belantsea |
| Species: | B. montana |
| Binomial name | |
| Belantsea montana Lesueur, 1818 |
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Belantsea montana (named after a legendary ancestor of the Crow Nation) was a cartilaginous fish that lived during the Lower Carboniferous, about 350 million years ago. Its fossils are found in the Bear Gulch Limestone lagerstätte. Its body was leaf-shaped, with muscular fins and a small tail. Such a bodyplan would allow for great maneuverability, but at the cost of speedy cruising. Its few, large, triangular teeth formed a beak-like arrangement that allowed it to graze bryozoans, sponges, crinoids and other encrusting animals.
B. montana is the best known member of the order Petalodontiformes.
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