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Tag: marji johns

PUBLISHED! Botanical Beach new Chimaeroid fish egg capsule

Congratulations to VicPS member Marji Johns and her colleagues! 

This month they published a research paper on the rare egg capsule discovered at Botanical Beach in 2022 by a citizen scientist.  Paid members may read about the backstory on discovery of this specimen in the BCPA online journal at First Record of a late Eocene–early Oligocene chimaeroid fish egg – BC Paleontological Alliance. 

Image courtesy https://cdnsciencepub.com

In this just-published paper, Marji et al have identified the egg capsule to be from a long-nosed chimaeroid fish similar to today’s living ‘spookfish’, not a ratfish as surmised when it was collected.  It’s a good reminder not to jump to conclusions about the identity of specimens we find, and to rely on experts to make the identification (ID is commonly a lengthy and detailed research process)! 

This research also highlights the value of citizen scientists.  In this case, the citizen scientist was visiting from the USA, saw an exceptional specimen in a BC park, took photos, and reached out to the proper authorities who then collaborated and collected the specimen carefully and legally.

The new paper, titled: ‘First chimeroid fish egg capsule (Chondrichthyes, Holocephali, Chimaeriformes) from upper Eocene Carmanah Group strata, West Coat of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada‘, is published in the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 

First chimaeroid fish egg capsule (Chondrichthyes, Holocephali, Chimaeriformes) from upper Eocene Carmanah Group strata, West Coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada .

The research paper citation is:

Johns, M.J., Fischer, J., Makahnouk, W.R.M., Nyborg, T., Deom, E., Bowen, D., and Bartlett, R. 2025. First chimaeroid fish egg capsule (Chondrichthyes, Holocephali, Chimaeriformes) from upper Eocene Carmanah Group strata, West Coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.  Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 62(5): 1013–1042 (2025) | dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2024-0096.

Copies of the paper can be obtained from the CJES at their web page (the link is: https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/cjes-2024-0096 where there also is a large photo of the specimen) or by direct request for the research paper from Marji.

Congratulations Marji!  We know how much work is involved in publishing, and VicPS is pleased to have played a small part in helping to retrieve the specimen from the beach.

Newly discovered fish species named after Sooke fossil hunter

As reported by Roxanne Egan-Elliott for the Times Colonist, the fossil found by Steve Suntok in 2014 near Sooke has now been classed as a new genus and species, and named for him.

Suntok found the fossil on a beach northwest of Sooke in 2014. He donated it to the Royal B.C. Museum, and a leading world expert on fish fossils studied the specimen in detail. In a scientific paper recently published, Russian scientist Evgeny Popov concluded the fossil was a new genus and species in the Chamaeridae family, which are cartilaginous fishes that have short rounded snouts and long tapered tails.


Popov named the fish Canadodus suntoki — Canadodus for “tooth from Canada” and suntoki for Suntok.

Times Colonist, Sep. 18, 2020

Congrats to Steve Suntok on this honour!

CBC Radio’s On the Island host Gregor Craigie interviewed Steve Suntok and Marji Johns about this fossil discovery. You may listen to that radio clip here.

A press release, with good images, prepared by Popov, Johns and Suntok may be viewed here. The scientific paper itself may be viewed here.