47" Wide Fossil Fish Mortality Plate - Ready to Hang On A Wall

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This is a huge, 47 x 36" mortality plate of fossil fish (Knightia eocaena) from the Green River Formation near Kemmerer, Wyoming. There are 20 fish prepared out as well as several partial fish left unprepared on the slab. These fish average about 5" in length with the largest being approximately 6" long.

This is a natural, non-composited association and the dark black coloration of the fish is natural. The entire piece has been backed with wood for stability and to make it easy to hang the plate on a wall. The plate itself weighs approximately 150 lbs.

50 million years ago, in the Eocene, these fish thrived in Fossil Lake, which was fed by the Uinta and Rocky Mountain highlands. The anoxic conditions at the bottom of Fossil Lake slowed bacterial decomposition, prevented scavengers from disturbing corpses and, most interestingly, suffocated creatures that ventured into the oxygen-starved aquatic layer. The result is a miraculous exhibition of Eocene biota: a subtropical aquatic community within sycamore forests, teeming with creatures such as freshwater stingrays, dog-sized horses, menacing alligators, early flying bats, and one of the first primates.

A view of one of the commercial quarries where fossils from the Green River Formation are collected.
A view of one of the commercial quarries where fossils from the Green River Formation are collected.

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DETAILS
SPECIES
Knightia eocaena
LOCATION
Kemmerer, Wyoming
FORMATION
Green River Formation
SIZE
47 x 36", Largest Fish 6", About 150 lbs
CATEGORY
ITEM
#151928
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