XXL 4.9" Knightia Eocaena Fossil Fish Green River FM WY Eocene Age COA & Stand

Location: Kemmerer, Wyoming

Weight: 2 Pounds 2.9 Ounces

Dimensions: 5.4 Inches Long, 4.7 Inches Wide, 1 Inch Thick (Plate)

Fish Dimensions: 4.9 Inches Long, 1.7 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).

About 50 million years ago, during the Eocene Epoch, a vast freshwater body known as Fossil Lake stretched across what is now southwest Wyoming. At its maximum, the lake covered nearly 930 square miles, though today only about 500 square miles of sediment remain. The central 230-square-mile area of the ancient lakebed is especially rich, preserving fossiliferous sediments along with striking geologic features such as deltas, beaches, mineral springs, and nearshore rock formations.

The unique chemistry of Fossil Lake created ideal conditions for fossilization. Its waters prevented decay and scavenging while millimeter-thick layers of limestone slowly accumulated. Over time, these laminated deposits preserved the highest concentration of fossil fish in the world, along with other aquatic organisms and geologic structures. Because of this, Fossil Lake is considered the most complete Paleogene record of a freshwater lake ecosystem anywhere on Earth.

 Since the discovery in the 1870s, many perfectly preserved fossil fish have been recovered. Preserved within the fish in the laminated limestone is a complete aquatic ecosystem, comprising cyanobacteria, plants, insects, crustaceans (such as shrimp, crawfish, and ostracods), amphibians (including a primitive salamander and a frog), alligators, turtles, birds, and mammals, including the oldest known pantolestid (an otter-like animal). The subtropical terrestrial ecosystem surrounding the lake is also represented by rare fossils, including a horse, two snakes, lizards, two bat species, birds, an apatemyid (an arboreal insectivore), a miacod (a primitive carnivore), insects, and more than 325 types of leaves, seeds, and flowers.