3.7" Knightia Eocaena Fossil Fish Green River FM Wyoming Eocene Age COA & Stand

Location: Kemmerer, Wyoming

Weight: 1 Pound 2.3 Ounces

Dimensions: 6.7 Inches Long, 4.1 Inches Wide, 0.5 Inches Thick (Plate)

Fish Dimensions: 3.7 Inches Long, 1.1 Inches Wide

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Comes with a Free Stand.

The item pictured is the one you will receive.

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).

Fifty million years ago, ancient Fossil Lake existed in what is now southwest Wyoming.  Of its estimated maximum extent of 930 square miles, approximately 500 square miles of sediment remains. The 230 square miles across the center of the ancient lake-bed contain exceptionally fossiliferous sediments and associated geologic features, including deltas, beaches, springs, and rocks from the center and nearshore environments. 

The unusual chemistry of Fossil Lake prevented decay and scavenging of dead organisms, while millimeter-thick layers of alternating limestone deposits slowly accumulated. The result is laminated limestones that contain the highest concentration of fossil fish in the world. These fish, along with other aquatic organisms and associated geologic features, make Fossil Lake the world's best Paleogene record of the freshwater lake ecosystem. 

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.