Dipnoan fishes from the Late Devonian Gogo Formation of Western Australia

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 9 years ago

Abstract: The Frasnian Gaga Formation of Western Australia has yielded nine species of dipnoans assigned to six genera and two subgenera; all specimens were discovered within a very limited area. No other Devonian area has such an abundance of dipnoans within a small stratigraphic range. In addition, most of the specimens come from similar rock matrices. It is reasonable to interpret the animals as having lived off a deeply embayed reef, the best specimens coming from Paddy's Valley, an embayment partly sealed by a small atoll. Other specimens from outside this embayment were found in similar sediments. This high abundance of organisms provides an opportunity to analyse the different ways in which dipnoans adapted to a variety of different habitats within a narrow ecological range. Emphasis is placed on a number of features which are displayed by these animals marine environment, air-breathing, dental apparatus, axial structures, pectoral and pelvic girdles, and feeding types all of which give information on the state of evolution and function of dipnoans at an important stage of their evolution.

Author(s) K.S.W. Campbell and R.E. Barwick : Part 1
Page Number
107