PALAIOS
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PALAIOS; December 2007; v. 22; no. 6; p. 682-685; DOI: 10.2110/palo.2006.p06-059r
© 2007 SEPM Society for Sedimentary Geology
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RESEARCH NOTES

EXCEPTIONAL PRESERVATION OF SOFT TISSUES IN CRETACEOUS FISHES FROM THE TLAYÚA QUARRY, CENTRAL MEXICO

JESÚS ALVARADO-ORTEGA*,1, LUIS ESPINOSA-ARRUBARRENA2, ALBERTO BLANCO3, FRANCISCO J. VEGA2, MOULOUD BENAMMI4 and DEREK E. G. BRIGGS5

1 Instituto de Biología, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rua São Francisco Xavier 524, Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro, 20559-900, RJ, Brasil, and Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, 04510 México, Distrito Federal, Mexico
2 Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, 04510 México, Distrito Federal, Mexico
3 Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Carretera Pachuca-Tulancingo Km. 4.5, Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico
4 Instituto de Geofísica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, 04510 México, Distrito Federal, México
5 Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, P.O. Box 208109, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8109, USAjalvaradoortega{at}yahoo.com.mx

The Tlayúa Quarry, sometimes referred to as the Mexican Solnhofen, is one of the most important fossil localities in Mexico, with fishes making up 70%–80% of the macrofossils. White cryptocrystalline hydroxyapatite patches within many specimens reveal details of muscles, gills, digestive tract, and stomach contents under the scanning electronic microscope. This is the first record of soft-tissue preservation of this kind in Mesozoic fishes from North America. The association of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine organisms, including shallow marine foraminifera, together with abundant ooids and isotopic evidence of fresh water higher in the sequence, favor a shallow, restricted-marine paleoenvironment.






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Copyright © 2007 by the SEPM Society for Sedimentary Geology.