2.7" Fossil Fish (Diplomystus Birdi) & Shrimp - Hjoula, Lebanon

Fossil Fish (Diplomystus Birdi) & Shrimp - Hjoula, Lebanon #162756

This is a 2.7" long fossil fish (Diplomystus birdi) from the Upper Cretaceous deposits near Hjoula, Lebanon. It is associated with a partial fossil shrimp (Carpopenaeus sp.). There is a repaired crack through the rock that runs through the fish fossil. It comes with an acrylic display stand.

Interestingly, Diplomystus is the same genus as one of the most common fish found in the Eocene aged Green River Formation of Wyoming. This one being a marine species and the other lived in a lake.

The discovery of amazingly preserved marine fossils near Hjoula, Lebanon dates back many centuries. In fact, they were first mentioned in writing by Herodotus, over 450 years before the birth of Christ. The first scientific work on these localities began in the 1800s: these deposits have been meticulously quarried by several Lebanese families for over a century. We purchase our specimens directly from one of these families.

These deposits represent a warm, shallow sea of the Middle Cretaceous, and have yielded over 70 types of fish and numerous other genera found nowhere else in the world. The preservation on many of these specimens is truly amazing: many examples of soft bodied preservation have been found.

A photo of one of the quarries at Hjoula, Lebanon