Five Panel Multi-Fish Display
Early Eocene (approx. 52-48 million years ago), Green River Formation, Lincoln County, Wyoming, USA
No reserve
Auction Closed
July 14, 07:13 PM GMT
Estimate
30,000 - 50,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Five Panel Multi-Fish Display
Notogoneus osculus, Diplomystus dentatus, Mioplosus labracoides, Cockerellites liops, Knightia eocaena
Early Eocene (approx. 52-48 million years ago)
Green River Formation, Lincoln County, Wyoming, USA
Each panel measures 60 x 24 x 2¾ inches (152.4 x 61 x 7 cm), together 60 x 120 x 2¾ inches (152.4 x 304.8 x 7 cm). Total weight of all five panels is 425 pounds (192.8 kg).
Five separate fossil fish mosaics assembled on large natural slabs of cream and tan Green River limestone matrix. There are a total of 21 well-preserved skeletons belonging to five different freshwater fish species. Largest fish (Notogoneus osculus) is an uncommon species in Fossil Lake and measures 24 inches (61 cm) in length. Each mural is backed in wood with finished beveled edges for wall hanging.
50 million years ago, the Green River Formation comprised an area of more than 25,000 square miles (65,000 sq. km) of interconnected subtropical lakes spread across the current states of Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. Today, the region of the Green River Formation known as "Fossil Lake" boasts some of the most abundant and well-preserved freshwater fossils anywhere in the world.
Five panel arrangements of fossil fish plates are exceedingly rare on the market. This assembly boasts 31 fish, including a Notogeneus osculus, an uncommon fossil and one of the only bottom feeders from the Green River Formation; a few well-preserved examples of the large surface feeder Diplomystus dentatus, characterized by its distinctive upturned mouth and V-shaped tail; the temperate bass Cockerellites liops; and Knightia eocaena, an extinct relative of the herring upon which Diplomystus would have predated.