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Plate with Fish and Sandy Stingray Coprolite - Green River Formation
This is a really cool 1.4" wide coprolite (fossil poop) preserved alongside a near complete 3" long fossil fish (Knightia eocaena), collected this last summer from our own Fossil Safari Quarry in the Green River Formation of Wyoming. Given its sandy appearance, this most likely was produced by a stingray (Heliobatis radians?.
Comes with an acrylic display stand.
"Stingrays may have ingested sand near shore while feeding on ostracods. It's gritty going in, scratchy coming out" (The Great Wall of Coprolites in the bathroom of the Fossil Butte National Monument Visitor Center.)
Comes with an acrylic display stand.
"Stingrays may have ingested sand near shore while feeding on ostracods. It's gritty going in, scratchy coming out" (The Great Wall of Coprolites in the bathroom of the Fossil Butte National Monument Visitor Center.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
SPECIES
Knightia eocaena & Heliobatis radians? (coprolite)
LOCATION
Fossil Safari Quarry, Kemmerer, Wyoming
FORMATION
Green River Formation
SIZE
Coprolite: 1.4" wide, Plate: 5 x 3.3"
CATEGORY
SUB CATEGORY
ITEM
#357655
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