7.3" Rare Cretaceous Fossil Fish (Hakelia) - Hakel, Lebanon

Rare Cretaceous Fossil Fish (Hakelia) - Hakel, Lebanon #162777

This is a beautifully preserved specimen of a rare Hakelia fish from the Upper Cretaceous marine deposits near Hakel, Lebanon. It's 7.3 inches in length and shows great bone and fin structure. It's located on a thick slab of limestone that has a repaired crack that runs through it. This crack runs through the head of the fish, requiring some gap fill restoration.

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 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 the quarry at Hakel, Lebanon