XXL 5.3" Knightia Eocaena Fossil Fish Green River FM WY Eocene Age COA & Stand
Location: Kemmerer, Wyoming
Weight: 15.4 Ounces
Dimensions: 7.2 Inches Long, 4.4 Inches Wide, 0.5 Inches Thick (Plate)
The Fish is: 5.3 Inches Long, 1.8 Inches Wide
Comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.
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 possibly the most frequently articulated vertebrate fossil worldwide. It is also Wyoming's State Fossil. Its length reaches up to 25 cm (10 in). About fifty million years ago, ancient Fossil Lake existed in present-day southwest Wyoming. Of its estimated maximum size of 930 square miles, roughly 500 square miles of sediment are still present. The central 230 square miles of the ancient lakebed contain exceptionally fossil-rich sediments and related geological features, including deltas, beaches, springs, and rocks from both the central and nearshore environments. The unique chemistry of Fossil Lake prevented decay and scavenging of dead organisms, while thin layers of alternating limestone accumulated slowly. This process created laminated limestones that hold the highest concentration of fossil fish in the world. These fossils, along with other aquatic organisms and geological features, make Fossil Lake the best Paleogene record of freshwater lake ecosystems globally. Since its discovery in the 1870s, many well-preserved fossil fish have been found. The laminated limestone also preserves an entire 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 surrounding subtropical terrestrial ecosystem is also represented by rare fossils, including a horse, two snakes, lizards, two bat species, birds, apatemyid (an arboreal insectivore), miacad (a primitive carnivore), insects, and more than 325 types of leaves, seeds, and flowers.
