13" Fossil Fish Plate (Knightia) Plate - Green River Formation

This is a fossil fish (Knightia) plate from the Green River Formation of Wyoming. It contains six fish. The largest fish is 5.1". The detailed preservation shows bones, fin rays and scales of these 50 million year old fossil herring.

Comes with display stand.

About Knightia

Knightia is an extinct genus of small, schooling, ray-finned fish related to modern herrings and sardines. Abundant in the warm freshwater lakes of the Eocene Green River Formation, they fed on insects, plankton, and tiny fish, while serving as prey for nearly every larger predator in the ecosystem. The most common species, Knightia eocena, reached about 15 cm in length and is celebrated today as the state fossil of Wyoming.

These streamlined fish are recognized by their heavy scales, small conical teeth, and rows of dorsal and ventral scutes along the body. Their fossils are among the most iconic from the Green River Formation—an exceptional 48-million-year-old lake deposit in Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah known for preserving a remarkably detailed snapshot of ancient life in a warm, lake-rich Eocene landscape.


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DETAILS
SPECIES
Knightia eocaena
LOCATION
Kemmerer, Wyoming
FORMATION
Green River Formation
SIZE
5.1" largest fish, 13.0 x 10.0" shale
CATEGORY
ITEM
#119493
GUARANTEE
We guarantee the authenticity of all of our specimens.