3.1" Cretaceous Fossil Fish (Diplomystus birdi) - Lebanon

This is an excellent 3.1" long example of Diplomystus birdi from the Cretaceous aged marine deposits of Lebanon. It has detailed preservation and is nicely centered on a 4.8x3.3" slab of limestone. There are parts of several fossil shrimp also on the rock. Comes with a 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 Hakel, 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 1800's and these deposits have been meticulously quarried by several Lebanese families for over a century. We purchase our specimens directly from one of these families that have worked the quarries for generations.

These deposits represent a warm, shallow sea and have yielded over 70 types of fish as well as numerous other genre found no where else in the world. The preservation on many of these specimens is truly amazing including including examples of soft bodied preservation.