Board Thread:Off-Topic Discussion/@comment-29637681-20171103171830/@comment-29637681-20171112042742

"Leedsichthys  is the largest known member of the   Osteichthyes  or bony fishes, [20]   with the exception of the largest descendants of land-dwelling   Tetrapodomorpha  (e.g. giant   sauropods  and   whales), not commonly thought of as "fishes". The largest extant non-tetrapodomorph bony fish is the <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  Ocean sunfish<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">, <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  Mola mola<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">, being with a weight of up to two tonnes an <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  order of magnitude<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">smaller than <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  Leedsichthys<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">. The extant <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  King of Herrings<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">might rival <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  Leedsichthys<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">in length but is a much more elongated animal. The lack of a preserved vertebral column has made it difficult to estimate the exact length of <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  Leedsichthys<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">. <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Liston4_2-7" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:inherit;font-weight:400;background:none;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:1;font-size:0.75em;unicode-bidi:isolate;white-space:nowrap;">[2] <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  Arthur Smith Woodward<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">, who described the <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  type specimen<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">in 1889, <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-21" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:inherit;font-weight:400;background:none;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:1;font-size:0.75em;unicode-bidi:isolate;white-space:nowrap;">[21] <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">estimated specimen BMNH P.10000 to be of an around nine metre long individual, <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-22" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:inherit;font-weight:400;background:none;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:1;font-size:0.75em;unicode-bidi:isolate;white-space:nowrap;">[22] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-23" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:inherit;font-weight:400;background:none;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:1;font-size:0.75em;unicode-bidi:isolate;white-space:nowrap;">[23] <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">by comparing this tail of <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  Leedsichthys<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">, having a preserved height of 274 centimetres (108 inches), with another pachycormid, <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  Hypsocormus<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">. The length of <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  Leedsichthys<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">was not historically the subject of much attention, the only reference to it being made by Woodward himself when he in 1937 indicated it again as 9 metres (29.5 feet) on the museum label of BMNH P.10000. However, in 1986, <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  David Martill<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">compared the bones of <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  Leedsichthys<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">to a pachycormid that he had recently discovered, <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  Asthenocormus<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">. <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Martill1986_20-1" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:inherit;font-weight:400;background:none;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:1;font-size:0.75em;unicode-bidi:isolate;white-space:nowrap;">[20] <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">The unusual proportions of that specimen gave a wide range of possible sizes. <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Liston8a_17-2" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:inherit;font-weight:400;background:none;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:1;font-size:0.75em;unicode-bidi:isolate;white-space:nowrap;">[17] <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">Some were as low as 13.5 metres (44.3 feet), but extrapolating from the gill basket resulted in an estimated length of 27.6 metres (90.6 feet) for <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  Leedsichthys<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">specimen NHM P.10156 (the earlier BMNH P.10156). Martill considered the higher estimate as a plausible size of the largest individuals. <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-24" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:inherit;font-weight:400;background:none;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:1;font-size:0.75em;unicode-bidi:isolate;white-space:nowrap;">[24] <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">Subsequently, a length of thirty metres (hundred feet) was often mentioned in popular science publications, sometimes one as high as thirty-five metres (115 feet). <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-25" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:inherit;font-weight:400;background:none;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:1;font-size:0.75em;unicode-bidi:isolate;white-space:nowrap;">[25]

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">Liston in his studies concluded to much lower estimates. Documentation of historical finds <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-26" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:inherit;font-weight:400;background:none;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:1;font-size:0.75em;unicode-bidi:isolate;white-space:nowrap;">[26] <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">and the excavation of "Ariston", the most complete specimen ever from the Star Pit near <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  Whittlesey<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">, <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  Peterborough<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">, <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-27" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:inherit;font-weight:400;background:none;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:1;font-size:0.75em;unicode-bidi:isolate;white-space:nowrap;">[27] <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">support Woodward's figures of between 9 and 10 metres (29.5 and 33 feet). With "Ariston" the pectoral fins are 1005 millimetres (39.6 inches) apart, indicating a narrow body of no excessive size, even though it was initially thought to have been 22 metres (72 feet) long. <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-28" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:inherit;font-weight:400;background:none;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:1;font-size:0.75em;unicode-bidi:isolate;white-space:nowrap;">[28] <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">In 2007 Liston stated that most specimens indicated lengths between 7 and 12 metres (23 and 39 feet). A linear extrapolation from the gill basket would be flawed because the gills grow disproportionally in size, having to increase their surface <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  allometrically<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">to ensure the <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  oxygen<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">supply of a body increasing in volume to the third power. The <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  growth ring<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">structures within the remains of <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  Leedsichthys<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">have indicated that it would have taken 21 to 25 years to reach these lengths, <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-29" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:inherit;font-weight:400;background:none;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:1;font-size:0.75em;unicode-bidi:isolate;white-space:nowrap;">[29] <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">and isolated elements from other specimens showed that a maximum size of just over 16 m (52 ft) <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-30" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:inherit;font-weight:400;background:none;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:1;font-size:0.75em;unicode-bidi:isolate;white-space:nowrap;">[30] <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">  <span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"HelveticaNeue",Helvetica,"NimbusSansL",Arial,"LiberationSans",sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:400;">is not unreasonable. In 2013 a new study by Liston found most specimens to be between 17 and 31 years old. Specimen GLAHM V3363, "Big Meg", could have been between 11.4–14.9 m (37–49 ft). The exception was NHM P.10156. Its gill basket, with a preserved width of 114 centimetres (44.9 inches) and height of 1545 millimetres (60.8 inches), indicated a body length of 16.5 m (54 ft) and an age of 45 years. <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Liston2013_19-1" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:inherit;font-weight:400;background:none;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:1;font-size:0.75em;unicode-bidi:isolate;white-space:nowrap;">[19] "

-Wikipedia