NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
Named by one of the few Egyptian women to pursue paleontology, the new fish species swam beside leggy whales 37 million years ago.
A new species of ancient animal plucked from the sands of Egypt is offering insight into the evolution of one of the most recognizable aquatic
groups on Earth: the humble catfish.
Unearthed in Wadi Al-Hitan, a dramatic, forbidding desert southwest of Cairo, the fossil catfish has been named Qarmoutus hitanensis, and it would have lived roughly 37 million years ago.
At about 6.5 feet long, the creature would have been on the upper end of the catfish size scale, coming close to modern-day behemoths like the Mekong giant catfish in Southeast Asia and the Wels catfish in Europe. (At the opposite end of that scale is the tiny parasitic candiru, which is infamous for legends that it can wiggle its way inside people via some uncomfortable places.)