11.2" Uncommon Fossil Fish (Phareodus) - Wyoming

Uncommon Fossil Fish (Phareodus) - Wyoming #207909

This is a detailed, 11.2" long fossil fish (Phareodus), one of the more uncommon species from the Green River Formation. It was collected recently from a quarry near Kemmerer, Wyoming. There is one repaired crack running through the rock and it's tail with some restoration along the repair.

Comes with a display stand.

Phareodus had a mouthful of sharp pointy teeth making it a voracious lake predator. In fact the name Phareodus actually means "to have tooth". Spines from other fish such as Mioplosus and Priscacara have frequently been found preserved in their stomachs.

50 million years ago, in the Eocene, these fish thrived in Fossil Lake, which was fed by 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 in 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.