FINE FOSSIL STINGRAY . ...

Description

FINE FOSSIL STINGRAY

Heliobatus radians
Eocene
Green River Formation, Wyoming
Many of the aquatic animals that lived in the Fossil Lake of the Green River formation were descendants of marine species cut off from the oceans as the North American continents rose slowly from the primordial waters that covered much of the globe. This is the reason why the traditionally ocean-dwelling sting-ray was to be found in these fresh waters. Like their modern-day descendants, they were placid bottom dwellers, the fearsome tail barbs providing an excellent deterrent to predators who might otherwise have enjoyed them as a tasty dinner. As might be expected, the remains of these thin, delicate flat fish are rare. They are cartilaginous, a characteristic highly antipathetic to fossilization, and although the strata of the "18-inch layer" of the Fossil Lake make it relatively easy to remove the abundant fossils found there, the "wing" bones of the ray present one of the greatest challenges to the excavator, having the thickness of only two sheets of paper. The preparator's skill is likewise keenly tested in its presentation, and the fine detail of the present example is testament to a master of this most painstaking art. Detail to the body, fins and tail is excellent, and as an added bonus, the heavy barb is easily identifiable. The "wingspan" of this specimen is 6½ inches and its soft brown coloring harmonizes nicely with the pale cream limestone of the matrix; swimming dangerously close to the dangerous stinger is a small school of herring-like Knightia. The whole plaque measures 24 x 33½ inches overall.

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