New Genus Discovered – Paleontologists Unearth 18-Million-Year-Old Goby Fossil

LMU paleontologists have discovered a new genus of fossil goby, unveiling the evolutionary mysteries of a lineage dating back millions of years.
Gobies, or Gobioidei, represent one of Europe’s most diverse groups of marine and freshwater fish. Typically found at the bottoms of shallow waters, they play a crucial role in the health and operation of numerous ecosystems.

With the identification of a new genus of a fossil freshwater goby, students of the international master program ‘Geobiology and Paleobiology’ at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and paleontologist Bettina Reichenbacher, professor at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at LMU, have made a discovery that provides critical insights into the evolutionary history of these fish.