Hyneria is a tristichopterid lobe-finned bony fish from the Late Devonian of the United States of America. It was named in 1968 by Keith Stewart Thomson. It was a truly big lobe-finned fish, as well as one of the last non-tetrapod tetrapodomorphs to exist.
Physiology[]
Like its cousin, Eusthenopteron, Hyneria resembled the generic lobe-finned fish. It was a coelacanth-like fish with a bulky body, fleshy, lobe-like fins, and a big head with semi-small jaws. Its body would have been covered in scaly skin.
Diet[]
Hyneria was a predator, preying on sharks, amphibians, and smaller bony fish. Its teeth were small yet sharp, and were used to get a hold of struggling prey as the lobe-finned fish swallowed them whole.
Ecology[]
Hyneria lived in freshwater rivers, swimming around in search of prey. It was the biggest vertebrate predator in the Eastern United States, often grabbing amphibians and smaller fish in its jaws and swallowing them whole. As well as this, its fins were powerful; however, contrary to popular belief, they were not used to crawl out of the water. Rather, they were used to navigate around dense weeds and underwater obstacles in the shallow waters that it lived in.
In popular culture[]
Hyneria was featured in the 1st episode of the 2005 documentary Walking with Monsters, where it is depicted as a 6 meter long lobe-finned fish that was more than capable of crawling out of the water in order to catch prey like Hynerpeton. As well as this, a female individual snaps up a Stethacanthus that was chasing a male Hynerpeton, and attacks the same male individual while he is mating with a female Hynerpeton, finally catching him and killing him.