2.9" Knightia Eocaena Fossil Fish Green River FM Wyoming Eocene Age COA & Stand
Location: Kemmerer, Wyoming
Weight: 12.3 Ounces
Dimensions: 5.4 Inches Long, 4.6 Inches Wide, 0.4 Inches Thick (Plate)
Fish Dimensions: 2.9 Inches Long, 1.1 Inches Wide
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50 million years old, Eocene age
Knightia Eocaena is the most common fish in Fossil Lake and may be the most commonly articulated vertebrate fossil in the world. It is Wyoming's State Fossil. Length: up to 25 cm (10 in).
Around fifty million years ago, Fossil Lake thrived in what is now southwest Wyoming, covering up to 930 square miles. Today, about 500 square miles of sediment remain, with 230 square miles at the lake's center rich in fossils and geological features like deltas, beaches, and springs. Unique chemical conditions preserved dead organisms by preventing decay and scavenging, allowing thin limestone layers to form over time. These laminated limestones hold the world’s densest collection of fossil fish, offering an exceptional and invaluable glimpse into the freshwater lake ecosystem of the Paleogene era.
Since its discovery in the 1870s, many perfectly preserved fossil fish have been recovered. The preserved fish in the laminated limestone is part of a complete aquatic ecosystem: cyanobacteria, plants, insects, crustaceans (such as shrimp, crawfish, and ostracods), amphibians (including frogs and primitive salamanders), alligators, turtles, birds, and mammals, including the oldest pantolestid (an otter-like animal). The subtropical terrestrial ecosystem surrounding the lake is also represented by rare fossils, such as a horse, two snakes, lizards, two bat species, birds, an apatemyid (an arboreal insectivore), a miacoid (a primitive carnivore), insects, and more than 325 types of leaves, seeds, and flowers.
