Sep 16, 2026 · 2 min · 3 segments
More than eight decades ago, pioneering Museum of Northern Arizona geologist Major L.F. Brady made a surprising find in sedimentary rocks high up on the east flank of Mt. Elden.
More than eight decades ago, pioneering Museum of Northern Arizona geologist Major L.F. Brady made a surprising find in sedimentary rocks high up on the east flank of Mount Eldon, outside Flagstaff.
They were lifted high up and tipped over by the emerging lava dome that created the mountain about half a million years ago.
Major Brady was excited to find fossilized remains of fish in Martin Formation limestone strata from the late Devonian period.
Placoderm means plate-skinned in Greek.
They had bony armor plates covering their heads and upper bodies.
Placoderms were the first vertebrates to evolve jaws, and they were the dominant fish of the Devonian.
Their jaws had no teeth, but they had tooth-like structures that extended into the mouth, a continuation of the bony plates on the head.
They varied in size from only a few inches to the huge apex predator Dunkleosteus, which must have been the terror of the Devonian Seas, up to 30 feet long with enormous jaws.
The Mount Eldon placoderm fossils weren't so large, only a few inches long.
Notwithstanding their small size, they're still considered among the most important vertebrate fossils in the museum's collection and a prized part of Major Brady's legacy.
More than eight decades ago, pioneering Museum of Northern Arizona geologist Major L.F. Brady made a surprising find in sedimentary rocks high up on the east flank of Mount Eldon, outside Flagstaff.
They were lifted high up and tipped over by the emerging lava dome that created the mountain about half a million years ago.
Major Brady was excited to find fossilized remains of fish in Martin Formation limestone strata from the late Devonian period.
Placoderm means plate-skinned in Greek.
They had bony armor plates covering their heads and upper bodies.
Placoderms were the first vertebrates to evolve jaws, and they were the dominant fish of the Devonian.
Their jaws had no teeth, but they had tooth-like structures that extended into the mouth, a continuation of the bony plates on the head.
They varied in size from only a few inches to the huge apex predator Dunkleosteus, which must have been the terror of the Devonian Seas, up to 30 feet long with enormous jaws.
The Mount Eldon placoderm fossils weren't so large, only a few inches long.
Notwithstanding their small size, they're still considered among the most important vertebrate fossils in the museum's collection and a prized part of Major Brady's legacy.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
