LARGE AND RARE FOSSIL GAR FISH . ...

Description

LARGE AND RARE FOSSIL GAR FISH
Lepisosteus simplex, Knightia sp.
Eocene
Green River Formation, Wyoming
The Green River gar fish is one of the very rarest species in the abundant fossil record of this area, and this superb fossil fish plate has as its centerpiece a particularly large example - 24½ inches in length. It was a slender eel-like creature with an elongated toothy snout and a body encased with tightly layered, diamond-shaped armor-like scales. The present specimen is extremely well preserved and is adorned with most of these scales intact. The only restoration to this outstanding fossil gar is about 2 ½ inches on the front tip of the snout and a few of the fin edges which is quite normal.
The garfish was mostly found in freshwater locations, probably basking near the surface and, unusually, often breathing the atmospheric air. Flitting around the fossil gar on this 48 x 30 inch wood-framed matrix plate are thirteen well-presented examples of the smaller and more common Knightia, a relative of the modern herring, and each of the specimens displays the usual high-standard of preparation and preservation that one would expect from a fossil plate from this region.

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