30" Fossil Fish (Gosiutichthys) Mortality Plate - Wyoming

This is a 30 x 26.6" mass mortality plate of detailed fossil herring from the Green River Formation of Wyoming. It comes from a different location than most of the Green River Fish fossils, representing the ancient Lake Gosiute, not Fossil Lake. The preservation is also quite different compared to the fossil fish found in the Fossil Lake deposits, being a coarse grained mudstone. They are very detailed, with the bony structures, fins and scales easily seen.

A backing has been added to this plate for stability and a wall hanger will be added. Orientation for wall hanger can be requested upon purchase.

They appear very similar to the Knightia alta of Fossil Lake but were assigned to a different genus Gosiutichthys parvus. Personally they look like the exact same species to me, just the location and typical state of preservation is different.

The reason it's difficult to find fossil fish from Lake Gosiute is that the traditional collecting localities lie on BLM land which has been off limits to collecting for decades. This material comes from adjacent private land managed by the Rock Springs Grazing Association and was legally collected.