Extraordinarily thick-boned fish linked to the aridification of the Qaidam Basin (northern Tibetan Plateau).

ABSTRACT: Scattered with numerous salt lakes and approximately 2,700-3,200 m above sea level, the giant Qaidam inland basin on the northern Tibetan Plateau has experienced continuing aridification since the beginning of the Late Cenozoic as a result of the India-Asia plate collision and associated uplift of the Tibetan Plateau. Previous evidence of aridification comes mainly from evaporite deposits and salinity-tolerant invertebrate fossils. Vertebrate fossils were rare until recent discoveries of abundant fish. Here, we report an unusual cyprinid fish, Hsianwenia wui, gen. et sp. nov., from Pliocene lake deposits of the Qaidam Basin, characterized by an extraordinarily thick skeleton that occupied almost the entire body. Such enormous skeletal thickening, apparently leaving little room for muscles,

SUBMITTER: Chang M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2533176 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature