Lesson plan
Eocottus
Eocottus (meaning "dawn Cottus") is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish that lived during the early Eocene. It contains a single species, E. veronensis from the Monte Bolca site of Italy. Eocottus was a small fish that superficially resembled a goby or sculpin. It was initially described in Gobius by Volta (1796) (first erroneously as a fossil specimen of the Atlantic mudskipper, then Gobius barbatus, and then as its own species, G. veronensis), and moved to its own genus Eocottus by Woodward (1901), who considered it to be a relative of sculpins, hence its new name. However, Bannikov (2004) determined it to be not closely related to any modern percomorph group, and placed it in its own family Eocottidae alongside Bassanichthys. Eocottidae may potentially belong to the Perciformes, although this is uncertain.
Article summary
Eocottus (meaning "dawn Cottus") is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish that lived during the early Eocene. It contains a single species, E. veronensis from the Monte Bolca site of Italy. Eocottus was a small fish that superficially resembled a goby or sculpin. It was initially described in Gobius by Volta (1796) (first erroneously as a fossil specimen of the Atlantic mudskipper, then Gobius barbatus, and then as its own species, G. veronensis), and moved to its own genus Eocottus by Woodward (1901), who considered it to be a relative of sculpins, hence its new name. However, Bannikov (2004) determined it to be not closely related to any modern percomorph group, and placed it in its own family Eocottidae alongside Bassanichthys. Eocottidae may potentially belong to the Perciformes, although this is uncertain.
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
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