7.2" Partial Fossil Fish Plate - Wyoming

Partial Fossil Fish Plate - Wyoming #257095

This is a 7.2" wide fossil fish plate collected from the "gastropod layer" of Lindgren Quarry at the Green River Formation of Wyoming. The shale contains two, partial fossil fish that are naturally associated with each other and bear red-brown and black preservation. Further prep work could be done to exposed the underlying fish (Mioplosus?).

This specimen is accompanied by a display stand.

50 million years ago, in the Eocene epoch, these fish thrived in Fossil Lake, which was fed by the Uinta and Rocky Mountain highlands. The anoxic conditions at the bottom of Fossil Lake slowed bacterial decomposition, prevented scavengers from disturbing corpses, and, most interestingly, suffocated creatures that ventured into the oxygen-starved aquatic layer. The result is a miraculous exhibition of Eocene biota: a subtropical aquatic community within sycamore forests, teeming with creatures such as freshwater stingrays, dog-sized horses, menacing alligators, early flying bats, and one of the first primates.

A view of one of the commercial quarries where fossils from the Green River Formation are collected.