Astonishing fossil fish unearthed in city’s prehistoric park

The incredible find has now been kindly donated to Leeds Museums and Galleries and added to the natural sciences collection at Leeds Discovery Centre. The exact location of the find is not being disclosed in order to protect the parkland and ensure any geology field work is only carried out by members of professional bodies.

Known as “living fossils”, for many years scientists believed coelacanths had died out around the same time as the dinosaurs before a modern specimen, pulled alive from the sea by local fisherman off the east coast of South Africa, was spotted by experts in a fish market in 1938.

The remarkable Leeds fossil was found by Ru Smith of the Yorkshire Geological Society during a reconnaissance walk he was carrying out ahead of a planned field excursion in the north Leeds park.

Describing the moment he made the discovery, Ru said: “There’s a layer of rock in the park which dates from around 320 million years ago, from a time before the breakup of the continents, when what is now the park would have been situated close the Equator and under the warm waters of a tropical lagoon. West Central Africa would be a good place to find similar environments in the present.

“There’s a bed of freshwater mussels called Carbonicola at one level in the rock, and opening a piece of shale from this bed in my hands I saw something unusual – a distinctive skull bone of a large fish. I knew straight away this was something different and very rare.”

The bone was verified by fellow experts as belonging to a coelacanth older than those found elsewhere in Yorkshire, making it the oldest fossil coelacanth discovered in the region.

The Leeds coelacanth would have been fossilised during the Carboniferous period when Earth was much warmer and the immense supercontinent of Pangaea was forming.

While fish such as coelacanths shared the world’s oceans with sharks and now extinct marine invertebrates, the land was ruled by giant insects and early amphibians.

Ru added: “Coelacanths are pretty amazing fish and it’s just very cool to think that at one time, you could have been standing in Leeds and watching them swim around above a bed of mussels in Roundhay Park.

“That’s really the wonder of geology, looking at the rock and time travelling in the imagination to what was a very different world.”

Ru’s incredible find will now join an impressive array of prehistoric aquatic specimens at Leeds Discovery Centre, which include the world’s best specimen of the giant Carboniferous megalichthys fish found in 1883 near Leeds, as well as fossilised remains of younger marine reptiles such as dolphin-like ichthyosaurs and long-necked plesiosaurs.

Clare Brown, Leeds Museums and Galleries’ curator of natural sciences, said: “This is a remarkable find and we’re extremely grateful to Ru for donating his discovery to our collection.

“Responsible and ethical fossil hunting and geology can yield some incredible results and really help us to build a picture of life in prehistoric Leeds and the history that’s resting beneath our feet no matter where we may be. We’re always keen to work with local organisations and would encourage anyone interested to join a group.”

A state-of-the-art storage facility as well as a visitor attraction, Leeds Discovery Centre houses a vast natural sciences and taxidermy collection.

Specimens are used in exhibitions, learning and research as well as being available for visitors to see.

Councillor Salma Arif, Leeds City Council’s executive member for economy, said: “Extraordinary finds like this really do bring home what a unique place Leeds is and the sheer volume of history that’s all around us across the city.

“We’re very fortunate to have such a fascinating and ever-evolving record of Leeds, spanning hundreds of millions of years and giving our visitors the chance to discover the story of our city.”

Leeds Discovery Centre is open to the public for pre-booked tours and is a Give What You Can museum, where visitors are invited to donate to support the museum if they are able.

Donations can be made when booking a tour online, and with cash and coins in a donation box in reception. 

For more details please visit: Visit Leeds Discovery Centre | Leeds Museums and Galleries | Days out and exhibitions

More information of the Yorkshire Geological Society can be found at: Yorkshire Geological Society

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