| Hyneria Temporal range: Famennian |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Subphylum: | Vertebrata |
| Class: | Sarcopterygii |
| Subclass: | Tetrapodomorpha |
| Superorder: | Osteolepiformes |
| Family: | Tristichopteridae |
| Genus: | Hyneria Thomson, 1968 |
| Species | |
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Hyneria was a prehistoric predatory lobe-finned fish that lived during the Devonian period around 360 million years ago. It was approximately 4 meters in length[1] and weighed as much as two tons. There is evidence from bones that it had very strong fins and perhaps could venture onto land.
In 2008, fossilized teeth, bones and a wall fin were found by Keith Thompson in the Red Hill Shale of Pennsylvania.[2][3] Many specimens have been found since then, although a complete skeleton has yet to be discovered. Hyneria was just one of many species of lobe-finned fish of the family Tristichopteridae, common in the Late Devonian period, along with its close relative Eusthenopteron, whose well-known fossils are common and so have been intensively studied by scientists for decades.
Hyneria was featured in the BBC's television series Walking With Monsters. It featured a beached female Hyneria attempting to catch prey by sliding along the muddy ground like a walrus to catch two Hynerpeton (with the narrator explaining that it could "attack like a killer whale after a seal"). This behavior is entirely speculative; the fish had powerful fleshy fins, like those of a coelacanth, that could possibly have enabled it to move short distances on land. It is unknown whether Hyneria's fins were sufficient for this behavior.
Hyneria also have a significant amount of attention paid to them in the 5-part NHK Documentary Miracle Planet.
Science fiction TV show Farscape featured an amphibious alien race known as the Hynerians.
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