First Record of a True Mortichnium Produced by a Fish

ABSTRACT Among the numerous ichnofossils found in the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen-type Nusplingen Fossillagerstätte of southwestern Germany, there is a unique find of a fish associated with a trail, which must be interpreted as a mortichnium. Like similar cases of fatally injured crustaceans from the same locality, this fish mortichnium resulted from an unsuccessful attack on the fish by a predator and does not provide evidence for a hostile environment.

[1]  B. Niebuhr,et al.  Plattenkalk und Frankendolomit –Lithostratigraphie der Weißjura-Gruppe der Frankenalb (außeralpinerOberjura, Bayern) , 2014 .

[2]  D. Lomax,et al.  A Long Mortichnial Trackway of Mesolimulus walchi from the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen Lithographic Limestone near Wintershof, Germany , 2012 .

[3]  O. Fatka,et al.  Burrowing trilobite caught in the act , 2011 .

[4]  J. Hagadorn,et al.  DEAD IN THEIR TRACKS—CAMBRIAN ARTHROPODS AND THEIR TRACES FROM INTERTIDAL SANDSTONES OF QUEBEC AND WISCONSIN , 2010 .

[5]  Q. Ou,et al.  A juvenile redlichiid trilobite caught on the move: Evidence from the Cambrian (Series 2) ChengJiang Lagerstätte, southwestern China , 2009 .

[6]  F. T. Fürsich,et al.  The Wattendorf Plattenkalk (Upper Kimmeridgian) – a new conservation lagerstätte from the northern Franconian Alb, southern Germany , 2007 .

[7]  G. Schweigert.  Ammonite biostratigraphy as a tool for dating Upper Jurassic lithographic limestones from South Germany – first results and open questions , 2007 .

[8]  H. Keupp,et al.  Geological history of the Southern Franconian Alb – the area of the Solnhofen Lithographic Limestone , 2007 .

[9]  A. Seilacher.  Trace Fossil Analysis , 2007 .

[10]  G. Schweigert,et al.  Miscellaneous from the Nusplingen Lithographic Limestone (Upper Kimmeridgian, Swabian Alb). 8. New records of the prawn genus Aeger Münster, 1839, and a related trace fossil , 2007 .

[11]  G. Dietl,et al.  Miscellanea aus dem Nusplinger Plattenkalk (Ober-Kimmeridgium, Schwäbische Alb) 6. Das Spurenfossil Telsonichnus , 2005 .

[12]  Rachel A. Moore,et al.  Mineralization of soft-part anatomy and invading microbes in the horseshoe crab Mesolimulus from the Upper Jurassic Lagerstätte of Nusplingen, Germany , 2005, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

[13]  G. Schweigert,et al.  THE NUSPLINGEN LITHOGRAPHIC LIMESTONE - A "FOSSIL LAGERSTAETTE" OF LATE KIMMERIDGIAN AGE FROM THE SWABIAN ALB (GERMANY) , 2004 .

[14]  G. Dietl,et al.  Miscellanea aus dem Nusplinger Plattenkalk (Oberkimmeridgium, Schwäbische Alb) 4. Limuliden , 2002 .

[15]  G. Schweigert.  A swimming trail from the Nusplingen Lithographic Limestone (Late Jurassic, SW Germany) , 2001 .

[16]  G. Schweigert.  Die Spurenfauna des Nusplinger Plattenkalks (Oberjura, Schwabische Alb) , 1998 .

[17]  P. Bernier.  Die fossilien von Solnhofen , 1996 .

[18]  G. Viohl.  Fish taphonomy of the Solnhofenplattenkalk-an approach to the reconstruction of the palaeoenvironment , 1994 .

[19]  S. Morris,et al.  Solnhofen : a study in Mesozoic palaeontology , 1994 .

[20]  A. Seilacher,et al.  Sedimentological, ecological and temporal patterns of fossil Lagerstätten , 1985 .

[21]  R. Pickerill,et al.  A trace fossil preserving its producer (Trentonia shegiriana) from the Trenton Limestone of the Quebec City area , 1978 .

[22]  K. W. Barthel.  Concentric marks; current indicators , 1966 .

[23]  B. Werner.  Zur Entstehung der Solnhofener Plattenkalke unteres Untertithon , 1964 .

[24]  Kenneth E. Caster.  Die sogenannten „Wirbeltierspuren” und dieLimulus-Fährten der Solnhofener Plattenkalke , 1940 .