Diplomystus & Knightia Fossil Fish Association - Wyoming

This is an interesting association of a Diplomystus dentatus and a Knightia eocaena from the Green River Formation near Kemmerer Wyoming. Unusually for the species, the Diplomystus shows scale preservation. There is also a small coprolite (poo) present on this plate.

This specimen includes an acrylic display stand.

About Fossil Lake

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.