Helicoprion (Helicoprion bessonowi) 1/35

thingiverse

Helicoprion bessonowi, discovered in 1899, is a large cartilaginous fish from the Permian period. Only the tooth whorls and jaws have been preserved, the general aspect of the fish remaining completely unknown. Most depictions present H. bessonowi with a very "shark" like appearance, but it was probably closer to chimaeras. I decided to portray it like a large pelagic chimaera, fast enough to hunt cephalopods. Some representations show this fish without pelvic, or anal fin, according to fossil record from other eugeneodonts, like Fadenia or Romerodus, but it is not clear to me if this is because the genus does not possess this feature, or if this is because the fin where atrophied and were not preserved in the fossils. I chose to represent H. bessonowi with small fin resembling those of modern ratfishes. Maybe science will prove me wrong in the futur, but I do prefer this look. The model is indented for 1/35 scale, representing a 5 meters helicoprion.