Ancient armored fish that narrowly avoided meteorite strike reveals life before Earth's largest mass extinction

A rare fossil discovered near South America's largest known meteorite crater has been named a new species. Initially mistaken for a frog by locals, Leolepis matogrossensis is actually a species of ancient ray-finned fish—the group that includes 96% of all bony fishes living today, including tuna, salmon and cod. It's a fairly primitive member of the group and lived around 254 million years ago.

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