Adoption of State's first fossil emblem - the Gogo fish

6/12/95

Premier Richard Court today announced the first State fossil emblem to be adopted  in Australia - the Gogo fish Mcnamaraspis Kaprios.

The Premier said the fossil emblem celebrated the unique three-and-a-half-billion-year-old fossil heritage of Western Australia.

"The fossil emblem will serve to inform, educate and enthuse people about the State's unique prehistoric past," he said.

"It will join the existing floral and faunal emblems of WA - the numbat, black swan and kangaroo paw."

Mr Court said Governor Michael Jeffrey proclaimed the Gogo fish Mcnamaraspis Kaprios as WA's fossil emblem yesterday.

A campaign to adopt a State fossil emblem was launched earlier this year by the Premier after an idea was raised by students and teachers from the Sutherland Primary School, Dianella.

A scientific committee, established by the State Government to evaluate public submissions, recently recommended that the Gogo fish be proclaimed as the State's fossil emblem.

Mr Court said the Gogo fish was unique.

"The fish is 370 million years old, yet perfectly preserved in three-dimensional form," he said.

"It has been of international significance in revealing new information on the anatomy and evolution of the first backboned animals."

About 40 different species of these extinct fish lived around an ancient barrier reef that flanked the Kimberley district.

Mcnamaraspis Kaprios was an armoured placoderm fish and a tenacious little predator about 25cm long, whose remains were found and described by Dr John Long of the WA Museum.

The Gogo fish will be on display in the foyer of the WA Museum, Francis Street, along with a reconstruction of how the fish looked when alive.