6 Foot Wide Notogoneus & Diplomystus Fossil Fish Plate

This is a huge fossil fish plate from the Green River Formation which would make for a very impressive display hanging on a wall. The entire plate is 72" (6 feet) long and 32" tall. There are two large, and very detailed fish on the plate. A 18" long Notogoneus osculus, one of the rarer fish found in the formation and a 15" long Diplomystus dentatus. The natural slab of rock is thick and very solid.

We can back it with wood for stability and install a french cleat hanging system allow it to be easily hung on a wall upon request. It's a very heavy piece, weighing over 500 lbs and requires a substantial amount of crating for transport. It will be shipped via freight, and the shipping cost will be invoiced after purchase.

It was collected from the 18 inch layer of the formation at Warfield's Quarry near Kemmerer, Wyoming. This layer produces much darker and more detailed preservation than the split fish layers. The fish tend to split out under the surface of the rock with just raised bumps from the backbone as a hint there is a fossil in the rock. Because of this the quarries collect this layer at night using spotlights to create more shadows allowing the fish to be seen easier. The fish must then be manually prepared using airscribes to remove the layers of rock, a very time consuming task.

Notogoneus was a predator and the down-turned mouth is probably an indicator that it fed on prey at the lakes bottom. It is thought that it's scarcity results from the fact that it is felt it migrated between the lake and the rivers that fed it throughout the year to feed.

The lake itself is known as "Fossil Lake" and it existed 50 million years ago in what is now Wyoming and is believed to have covered approximately 930 square miles. It had an unusual chemistry that inhibited the decay and scavenging of dead organisms while think layers of limestone and organic matter accumulated. This special set of circumstances has lead to the beautiful preservation of fish and other fossils within the Green River Formation.