Australian Scientists Reveal Image of Platypus-Like Fish Found in Ancient Reef

The first remains of this strange fish were found back in 1980, but they were incomplete. Now scientists have discovered its last missing piece – and the discovery has left them perplexed.

Archeologists from Flinders University and Canberra's Australian National University have managed to reconstruct what a peculiar fish that once inhabited an ancient coral reef system in Australia looked like. The reconstruction was made possible after scientists discovered fossils of what they later named Brindabellaspis in limestone near the Lake Burrinjuck dam.

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But what surprised the archeologists is that the ancient fish actually had a long snout similar to that of modern platypuses.

"There was long snout at the front, and the jaws were positioned very far forward. The eyes were on top of the head, and the nostrils came out of the eye sockets. This was one strange looking fish." study author Benedict King said in an interview with the online outlet News.com.au.

The scholar also added that the creature was most likely a bottom-dweller that used its snout to look for food and its eyes to detect threats coming from above.