21" Uncommon Fossil Fish (Notogoneus) - Wyoming

Uncommon Fossil Fish (Notogoneus) - Wyoming #299806

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This is a huge, 21.2" long fossil fish (Notogoneus osculus), one of the larger and more uncommon fish found in the Green River Formation. It was collected recently near Kemmerer, Wyoming. The plate has been backed with wood and mounting hardware for horizontal display.

There is one repaired crack through the rock that runs across the distal end of the caudal fin.

Notogoneus was a predator and the down-turned mouth is probably an indicator that it fed on prey along the lake's bottom. It is thought that its scarcity results from the fact that it's believed to have migrated between the lake and the rivers that fed it, throughout the year.

About Fossil Lake

50 million years ago, in the Eocene epoch, 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.