Today I've got two pieces of artwork from the same artist and of the same subject. The Jurassic leviathan, Leedsichthys problematicus. The artist is the great Robert Nicholls, the artist of the Ichthyosaur piece that I shared yesterday. I think we can agree that Nicholls is a fantastic artist who really does these animals justice when he brings them back to life in his artwork.
The Leedsichthys is a prehistoric fish of the family pachycormidae, an extinct group of ray finned fish. The animal is known in the Jurassic deposits in the Peterborough area where thousands of fossils have been found in the Oxford Clay quarries. The first was found by local Palaeontologist and farmer, Alfred Leeds, the man the fish is named after. However, in 2002, students from the University of Portsmouth found more remains, a team led by palaeontologists Dr Jeff Liston and Dr Dave Martill uncovered over a thousand bones, making it the most complete specimen to be found despite only finding a small proportion of the animal. Size estimates are around 11 to 14 metres (37 to 49 feet).
This first piece shows a lone Leedsichthys with an Ichthyosaur in the background. This gives us a nice sense of scale, although the Ichthyosaur is in the background it is clear to see that it is dwarfed by the fish. This raises an interesting question, would smaller animals follow giants like this as a form of protection? Another thing I like about this piece is Nicholls' choice of colouration for the Leedsichthys, a dark dorsal surface and white underneath. This is very similar to the colouration of modern sea animals including Great White Sharks. The sharks of today are coloured as such so that from above they are camoflaged with the murky depths and from beneath they blend in with the bright surface of the water, this makes it more difficult for prey to spot the incoming predator. But Leedsichthys was not a predator, it was a filter feeder like the Whale and Basking sharks of today, this is shown by the giant gape of the fish's mouth which is collecting tiny plankton. The reason for the a peaceful giant like Leedsichthys to be coloured this way is for its own protection, a predator would have difficulty making out the outline of the fish from above or below, making a successful attack more risky.
The seond piece I've chosen is another lone Leedsichthys in the Jurassic Ocean by Robert Nicholls. This time rather than being accompanied by an Ichthyosaur, there is a group of smaller fish surrounding the giant, the species is possibly Caturus. This is interesting as it shows the vast range in size between the two types of fish, which helps to visualise the length of this gentle giant. As with the last piece, it appears that smaller animals are staying close to the Leedsichthys for protection from predators. This behaviour can be seen in fish today that surround Whale Sharks.
Overall, both artworks are impressive in the way they show us the scale of this fascinating fish. If you want to read more about this wonder, then pay a visit to the new website created by a team at Peterborough Museum, the link will be left below.
www.bigjurassicfish.com
No comments:
Post a Comment