Researchers identify historical eel-like species after Black Sabbath guitarist

In a current examine, a gaggle of geology researchers at Lund University unveiled three newly found species of conodonts, a sort of jawless historical fish. One of the species has been named Drepanoistodus iommii—a tribute to Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi.

About 470 million years in the past, eel-like fish swam round within the Baltoscandian basin—a shallow sea that lined components of present-day Scandinavia and the Baltics. The fish belonged to the animal group conodonts, which at present is a crucial fossil group with round one thousand recognized species. The conodonts are used, amongst different issues, for so-called biostratigraphy—a way used for figuring out the age of sedimentary rocks.

In the brand new examine revealed within the journal European Journal of Taxonomy, a Swedish-Danish analysis staff introduce three utterly new species throughout the conodont genus Drepanoistodus.

“The discovery was made in 2012 by the river Lynna, 150 km east of St. Petersburg. The collected material has been at our department ever since. However, now that we have analyzed everything, we have discovered fossils for three previously completely unknown species,” says Mats E. Eriksson, a geology professor at Lund University.

Eriksson, who himself is an avid steel fanatic and passion musician, has beforehand named 4 fossils after rock musicians. That is why King Diamond, Lemmy Kilmister (Motörhead), Alex Webster (Cannibal Corpse) and Frank Zappa are at present represented within the geology books.

“It felt completely natural to name the new fossil after Tony Iommi. Black Sabbath is the ancestor of the entire heavy metal genre. When it comes to riff creation, he is a genius,” concludes Mats E. Eriksson.