10.6" Predatory Fossil Fish (Apateopholis) - Hakel, Lebanon

Predatory Fossil Fish (Apateopholis) - Hakel, Lebanon #162771

This is a rare predatory fish (Apateopholis laniatus) from the Upper Cretaceous marine deposits near Hakel, Lebanon. It is 10.6" in length and is beautifully preserved. Apateopholis has an elongated head, with long jaws full of small teeth forming what almost looks like a beak. These long jaws might have been quite effected at side-slashing to capture prey.

It is located on a 12.8 x 4.9" slab of limestone with no cracks or repairs and comes with an acrylic display stand.

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