Bulgaria Seeks Foreign Paleontologists over New Fossils

The fossil of the unknown species of predator fish found at the end of September. Photo by bTV

Some 30 fossils of prehistoric fish have been found during the construction of Bulgaria's Lyulin Highway, about a week after a fish fossil was first uncovered by the builders.

Only three of the 30 fossils are fully preserved, announced the head of the Regional History Museum in Bulgaria's city of Pernik, Emiliya Velinova.

They are from the long extinct species dapalis macrurus, and are believed to be 34 million years old, dating back to the Oligocene period (34-23 million years ago).

The discovery of the new fossils comes days after a 200-million-year-old fossil of a prehistoric fish from an unknown predator species was uncovered by workers on the site of the Lyulin Highway.

The first fossil was date to the Triassic period, 250-200 million years ago, and was 58 cm in length.

The Bulgarian authorities are going to ask foreign paleontologists for help with the study of the fossils as Bulgaria does not have specialists in such ancient species.

Velinova said photos of the fossils will be sent to paleontology experts abroad but did not specify exactly where.

Millions of years ago, the area of the city of Pernik, right west of Sofia, used to be a giant lake, hence the fish fossils. The Lyulin Highway is being built mostly through mountainous terrain.

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