Unusual Solnhofen Fossil Fish Orthogoniklethrus hoelli

This is a very unusual fossil fish from the Solnhofen limestone, Orthogoniklethrus hoelli. The species was just described in 1997 and is only found in a single quarry which has been closed to collecting for more than 5 years.

The Solnhofen limestones is a famous Lagerstätte in Germany that offer amazing preservation of Upper Jurassic fossils. It is where one of the most famous fossils of all time, Archaeopteryx was found. The fine grained limestone makes excellent building materials which has led to heavy quarrying over the past two centuries, which has resulted in some amazing fossils being unearthed.

This area represented an archipelago at the edge of a sea. Due to high salt content, the lowest levels in the water column could not support much life and was devoid of oxygen. This lack of scavengers on the bottom of the sea led to amazing preservation of the fauna found there.