A fossil of an unknown predator fish species, which is believed to be 200 million years old, has been found by workers during the construction of Bulgaria's Lyulin Highway.

The rock containing the fish fossil was dug out and is already on display in the Regional History Museum in the city of Pernik, which was contacted immediately by the two workers that stumbled upon the find - Emil Mitushev and Dimitar Borisov.

Local archaeologists believe the fish got stuck in the slime as a local body of water that occupied the area around Pernik dried out; subsequently, the slime turned into rock, preserving the fossil.

Geological data shows that the body of water – and respectively the fish – existed in the region during the Triassic period, 250-200 million years ago. The fossil is 58 cm in length.

The local archaeologists, however, are in expectation of paleontologists and zoologists from the Sofia University and the National Museum of Natural History in Sofia, who will examine the fossil of the fish in detail.

The only fossils found so far in the mountainous Pernik region are of ammonites and echinoidea dated to the Triassic.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!