37" Museum Quality Paddlefish Fossil (Crossopholis) - Wyoming

Museum Quality Paddlefish Fossil (Crossopholis) - Wyoming #254199

Due to the size and weight of this piece it will be shipped on a pallet or in a crate via freight. Our website cannot automatically calculate freight shipping costs, so these costs will be calculated and billed after purchase. Please contact us prior to purchase if you need a shipping quote.

This is an extremely rare, museum quality paddlefish (Crossopholis magnicandatus) fossil collected from Lindgren Quarry on the Green River Formation of Wyoming. It measures 37" long and is beautifully centered on a 49 x 27.8" slab of shale.

High end fossil fish collectors shouldn't miss out on this phenomenal specimen. You may not see a better paddlefish from the Green River Formation.

The paddlefish has been inlaid into the rock, surrounded by over 35 complete Knightia eocaena fish (all roughly 2" long). This Knightia covered shale comes from the mini fish layer. The shale has been backed with wood for stability and includes a french cleat hanger for horizontal presentation. It will be shipped in a wooden crate on a pallet.

Crossopholis was a predator paddlefish, that likely consumed small schooling fish such as Knightia eocaena, per fossil evidence. It may not have lived in Fossil Lake itself, but rather the rivers surrounding the lake, given the scarcity of its fossils and complete lack of juvenile fossil remains.

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.

Dig Your Own Fossils At Fossil Lake Safari