Mandageria fairfaxi.

Pronunciation: Man-daj-ee-ree-a fair-fax-i
Translation: "Fairfax's Mandagery" - named after the philanthropist James Fairfax, and the Mandagery Sandstone formation in which the fossils were found.
Period: Late Devonian (360 million years ago)

Description: Large carnivorous lobe-finned fish

Class - Osteichthyes ('bony fish')
Subclass - Sarcopterygii ('fleshy-fins')
Superorder - Crossopterygii (lobe-finned fishes)
Order - Osteolepiformes ('bony scaled forms')
Family - Tristichopteridae
Genus - Mandageria
Species - Mandageria fairfaxi

Length - 1.6 metres to 1.9 metres

Mandageria is the largest fish known from the Canowindra site. The 13 or so specimens known so far were found in 1993 and were described and named by Dr Zerina Johanson of the Australian Museum together with Dr Per Ahlberg in 1997. Nearly 2 metres long, it was the top predator in the Canowindra fish community, and the long, torpedo-shaped body with the large tail fins superficially resembles the quite unrelated, pike of today. Large pike are very agile, and catch their prey by ambushing it - the long body-form is particularly good for rapid acceleration - and it is likely that Mandageria would have hunted in a similar way.

In sarcopterygian fishes the bones within the paired fins are equivalent to the limb bones of tetrapods, and allowed the fish to manoeuvre precisely in the water using a sculling action of the 'fleshy' fins. The large pectoral fins of Mandageria would have helped it manoeuvre around submerged logs when preparing to attack its prey. The large skull had robust, powerful jaws which were lined with a series of large fangs.