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Description
251.9 million years ago during the very start of the Triassic period, a large predatory fish, Birgeria groenlandica, swims through the oceans covering what is now the Kap Stosch Formation in Greenland. It enters an area which was once a reef, but the rugosan corals that once formed this reef have all died as a result of the mass extinction event that concluded years prior, leaving only their stony white skeletons behind. And it did not just occur locally: the rising sea temperatures and ocean acidification have annihilated all reefs worldwide and led to the extinction of many marine species. While reefs will take millions of years to recover, life managed to persevere: here, scallops called Claraia are common across the seabed, the extinction of their competitors allowing their proliferation. Two Bobasatrania groenlandica, a type of fish which survived through the mass extinction event, arrive to feed on the shellfish, while an eel-like Hindeodus wriggles over the bleached coral skeletons.

Drawing made for Day 2 of the Maysozoic art prompt list, of which Birgeria is the featured genus. I have drawn one of the largest Birgeria species before in this picture from 3 years ago and honesty still think it's pretty good, so rather than redraw the picture or that species, I went with a different Birgeria species (the genus lasted throughout the whole Triassic and had many species).

Extinction is a process which happens naturally, but there have been a few times in the history of the earth in which massive portions of existing species died out in a short time frame. These events are called mass extinctions, the most famous likely being the one at the end of the Cretaceous period for wiping out all non-avian dinosaurs. But the end-Cretaceous event did not have the highest extinction rate: the mass extinction at the end of the Permian period (around 251.9 million years ago) led to the extinction around 90% of the species alive at the time, and thus is nicknamed the Great Dying. The exact cause seems to still be debated, but extreme volcanic activity in Siberia seems a main contributor, and ecosystems both on land and in the oceans were fucking decimated. At the start of the Triassic period (which came right after the Permian), all reefs worldwide had been destroyed, and it would take over 8 million years before reefs existed again. Two major groups of corals, the Rugosa and the Tabulata, became extinct during the Great Dying, as did various reef-building shellfish (not all reefs are made of coral).

In Greenland is a geologically-important site, as the Kap Stosch Formation (formerly considered part of the Wordie Creek Formation) there includes rock layers mostly from the earliest Triassic, but also some from the latest Permian, meaning it preserves a sequence that lasts through the Great Dying, showing how ocean ecosystems developed after such a catastrophic event. While there are rugosan corals in the underlying Permian-aged Schuchert Dal Formation, those died out during the disaster. The early Triassic deposits both here and worldwide however preserve many fossils of a scallop called Claraia, which first evolved in the Permian but exploded in numbers after the Great Dying. It seems this scallop was well-adapted to low-oxygen conditions, helping it survive, and with most other shellfish competitors wiped out, it really diversified in the aftermath of the catastrophe. Also found at Kap Stosch is Bobasatrania, a fish genus which also evolved during the Permian and persisted through the Great Dying, similarly diversifying in the early Triassic. Its teeth suggest Bobasatrania was a shellfish eater, so I guess all those scallops everywhere were good news for it. Yet another group of survivors were the conodonts, a group of eel-like jawless fishes known mostly from their fossilized teeth. Hindeodus was a conodont that existed before even the Permian, lasting from the Carboniferous to the earliest Triassic, but ultimately the entire conodont group died out during the early Jurassic. Predators in the post-apocalyptic Greenlandic waters include Birgeria, a genus of predatory fish that lived throughout the whole Triassic period, with the species B. groenlandica from Kap Stosch being the oldest known record of the genus. Species of Birgeria grew from 1.5 to 2 meters long and had long, mostly scaleless bodies, fit for a pelagic carnivore that pursued its prey in open waters.

Colors of the Birgeria are mostly based on the yellowfin tuna, and those of the Bobasatrania are sorta inspired by the sheepshead but with orange fins (also ended up looking barely at all like a sheepshead). Also my sister saw me drawing this and said Birgeria has the same face as the Pokémon Orthworm (and I can see it ).

Description
251.9 million years ago during the very start of the Triassic period, a large predatory fish, Birgeria groenlandica, swims through the oceans covering what is now the Kap Stosch Formation in Greenland. It enters an area which was once a reef, but the rugosan corals that once formed this reef have all died as a result of the mass extinction event that concluded years prior, leaving only their stony white skeletons behind. And it did not just occur locally: the rising sea temperatures and ocean acidification have annihilated all reefs worldwide and led to the extinction of many marine species. While reefs will take millions of years to recover, life managed to persevere: here, scallops called Claraia are common across the seabed, the extinction of their competitors allowing their proliferation. Two Bobasatrania groenlandica, a type of fish which survived through the mass extinction event, arrive to feed on the shellfish, while an eel-like Hindeodus wriggles over the bleached coral skeletons.

Drawing made for Day 2 of the Maysozoic art prompt list, of which Birgeria is the featured genus. I have drawn one of the largest Birgeria species before in this picture from 3 years ago and honesty still think it's pretty good, so rather than redraw the picture or that species, I went with a different Birgeria species (the genus lasted throughout the whole Triassic and had many species).

Extinction is a process which happens naturally, but there have been a few times in the history of the earth in which massive portions of existing species died out in a short time frame. These events are called mass extinctions, the most famous likely being the one at the end of the Cretaceous period for wiping out all non-avian dinosaurs. But the end-Cretaceous event did not have the highest extinction rate: the mass extinction at the end of the Permian period (around 251.9 million years ago) led to the extinction around 90% of the species alive at the time, and thus is nicknamed the Great Dying. The exact cause seems to still be debated, but extreme volcanic activity in Siberia seems a main contributor, and ecosystems both on land and in the oceans were fucking decimated. At the start of the Triassic period (which came right after the Permian), all reefs worldwide had been destroyed, and it would take over 8 million years before reefs existed again. Two major groups of corals, the Rugosa and the Tabulata, became extinct during the Great Dying, as did various reef-building shellfish (not all reefs are made of coral).

In Greenland is a geologically-important site, as the Kap Stosch Formation (formerly considered part of the Wordie Creek Formation) there includes rock layers mostly from the earliest Triassic, but also some from the latest Permian, meaning it preserves a sequence that lasts through the Great Dying, showing how ocean ecosystems developed after such a catastrophic event. While there are rugosan corals in the underlying Permian-aged Schuchert Dal Formation, those died out during the disaster. The early Triassic deposits both here and worldwide however preserve many fossils of a scallop called Claraia, which first evolved in the Permian but exploded in numbers after the Great Dying. It seems this scallop was well-adapted to low-oxygen conditions, helping it survive, and with most other shellfish competitors wiped out, it really diversified in the aftermath of the catastrophe. Also found at Kap Stosch is Bobasatrania, a fish genus which also evolved during the Permian and persisted through the Great Dying, similarly diversifying in the early Triassic. Its teeth suggest Bobasatrania was a shellfish eater, so I guess all those scallops everywhere were good news for it. Yet another group of survivors were the conodonts, a group of eel-like jawless fishes known mostly from their fossilized teeth. Hindeodus was a conodont that existed before even the Permian, lasting from the Carboniferous to the earliest Triassic, but ultimately the entire conodont group died out during the early Jurassic. Predators in the post-apocalyptic Greenlandic waters include Birgeria, a genus of predatory fish that lived throughout the whole Triassic period, with the species B. groenlandica from Kap Stosch being the oldest known record of the genus. Species of Birgeria grew from 1.5 to 2 meters long and had long, mostly scaleless bodies, fit for a pelagic carnivore that pursued its prey in open waters.

Colors of the Birgeria are mostly based on the yellowfin tuna, and those of the Bobasatrania are sorta inspired by the sheepshead but with orange fins (also ended up looking barely at all like a sheepshead). Also my sister saw me drawing this and said Birgeria has the same face as the Pokémon Orthworm (and I can see it ).