Illustration of Gogonasus andrewsae.
Image: Mats Bjorklund, Magipics
Source: Museum Victoria
Fossil of Gogonasus andrewsae.
Image: John Broomfield
Source: Museum Victoria
A barrier reef teeming with life existed 375 million years ago in what is now the Kimberly region in Western Australia. The warm sea was home to a diversity of molluscs, crustaceans, sea scorpions and fish. The fish fossils found near Gogo include armoured placoderms, spiny acanthodians, sharks, ray-finned fish and lobe-finned fish such as lungfish preserved in fine detail.
One of the best preserved fossils from Gogo is a lobe-finned fish called Gogonasus. The fossil skull and pectoral fins of this fish show some interesting features that provide clues to the origins of land vertebrates. Although clearly still a fish, the skull shows primitive structures that would became important features for related air-breathing tetrapods.