Here's a cool one from California. This is a mortality plate (multiple similar species) with several Syngnathus acus pipefish from the pliocene period.
Paleo-Aquarium
- Thread starter Oddball
- Start date
From the cretaceous of China, here's a mortality plate of a school of Lycoptera (aka Mooneye fish).
Here's another mortality plate. These little fish come with a big name. These are Gosiutichthys parvus. An interesting note to this piece concerns the gray patch to the left. That's what remains of the volcanic ash layer that I removed to expose the fish against the normal silt (tan) layer they're lying on. A mud slide of ash covered and asphyxiated these fish 50 million years ago.
The close up pic is of a Knightia that died amongst the Gosiutichthys.
The close up pic is of a Knightia that died amongst the Gosiutichthys.
Here's a brain-buster for you. It's believed that only one in a million of a species dies in such a way that permits the fossilization process to occur. Of those, only one in a million fossilize as an intact articulated specimen. Keeping those numbers in mind, how rare do you think this fossil is?
This is Mioplosus labracoides in an asphyxiation display, He choked on a Diplomystus dentatus that was too big to swallow or spit out. They're from the Eocene of the Green River Basin Formation in Wyoming.
This is Mioplosus labracoides in an asphyxiation display, He choked on a Diplomystus dentatus that was too big to swallow or spit out. They're from the Eocene of the Green River Basin Formation in Wyoming.
This little guy is Eurypholis boissieri. He's a shielded viperfish from the Cretaceous sandstones of Hakel, Lebanon.
For the primitive fish lover, here's a fossil PADDLEFISH (Protosephurus liui) from the Lower Cretaceous of Liaoning, China.
5 Procharcharodon megalodon teeth. This is the great white that grew to 80 feet. That's 2 school buses end to end, boys and girls. The center tooth is from Chile and the rest from various rivers in Florida. All are Miocene.
These 3 species are from the cretaceous beds of the Santana Formation in Ceara, Brazil.
Neoproscinetes penalvai was a shell crusher.
Neoproscinetes penalvai was a shell crusher.
Araripelepidotes temnurus was a schooling species and prey to many other species.
And, we need a principle predator for this batch. Here's a juvenile Cladocyclus ferus. I need to dig out the 4 footer I have somewhere. This line died out. But, doesn't the head look arowana-ish? I first thought 'viperfish' but, this species lacks the tusks.
