XL 4.2" Knightia Eocaena Fossil Fish Green River FM WY Eocene Age COA & Stand

Location: Kemmerer, Wyoming

Weight: 11.6 Ounces

Dimensions: 5 Inches Long, 4 Inches Wide, 0.6 Inches Thick (Plate)

Fish Dimensions: 4.2 Inches Long, 1.6 Inches Wide

Comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.

Comes with a Free Stand.

The item pictured is the one you will receive.

This is a genuine fossil.

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 unique chemistry of Fossil Lake prevented decay and scavenging, allowing organisms to be perfectly preserved while millimeter-thick layers of limestone slowly accumulated. These laminated deposits contain the highest concentration of fossil fish in the world, along with other aquatic organisms and remarkable geologic features, making Fossil Lake the most complete Paleogene record of a freshwater lake ecosystem.

Since their discovery in the 1870s, countless perfectly preserved fossil fish have been recovered. Alongside these fish, the limestone preserves a complete ancient aquatic ecosystem, including cyanobacteria, plants, insects, and crustaceans (shrimp, crawfish, and ostracods), as well as amphibians (frogs and primitive salamanders), alligators, turtles, birds, and mammals, including the oldest known pantolestid, an otter-like animal.

The surrounding subtropical terrestrial ecosystem is also represented in rare fossils, including an early horse, snakes, lizards, bats (two species), birds, an apatemyid (tree-dwelling insectivore), a miacod (primitive carnivore), insects, and over 325 species of fossilized leaves, seeds, and flowers. Together, these discoveries provide an unparalleled view of aquatic and terrestrial life during the Eocene Epoch.