39" Green River Fossil Fish "Mural" With Diplomystus & Cockerellites

Green River Fossil Fish Mural With Diplomystus & Cockerellites #211225

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 a gorgeous, colorful fossil fish "mural" from the Green River Formation of Wyoming. The entire mural measures 39 x 21" and features a large, 18.5" wide Diplomystus dentatus, along with a smaller, 7.2" wide Diplomystus dentatus and a Cockerellites (Priscacara) liops fish that measures 4.4" wide. These fossils were collected from Lindgren Quarry near Kemmerer, Wyoming, and have been inlaid into the "ash layer" from the same quarry. This layer has a unique texture and orange coloration that contrasts nicely with the dark fish preservation.

The entire piece has been backed with wood for stability and includes a wood wall hanger so that it can easily be hung on a wall. It weighs just over 76 lbs and will ship in a wooden crate on a pallet.

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.