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The Green River Formation is one of the most well-known fossil sites in the world, occupying present-day Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. This Lagerstätte has been noted for its well-preserved fish fossils, as well as numerous invertebrates, plants, and sometimes even reptiles and birds. Green River fossils are Eocene-aged, at 53.5 to 48.5 million years old. Thankfully, not only are Green River fossils attractive, they also remain affordable to the casual collector. Allow me to present my humble collection. Crocodile tooth Borealosuchus sp. Southwest Wyoming Water bird tracks (possibly sandpipers or plovers) Presbyorniformipes feduccii Vernal, Utah Bird feather Aves indet. Southwest Wyoming Crane flies & Mosquitoes Pronophlebia rediviva & Culex sp. Parachute Creek Member; Douglas Pass, Colorado

Quick 18 inch layer prep I just finished. Decided to do this one with a scalpel instead of scribes because some of the fish was pretty flaky and I was afraid that the air from the scribe would blow pieces off even if I was careful with the tip. Being an Amphiplaga I didn't want to risk that. Took about 30 minutes and was a relaxing project.

I stumbled across this green river formation association piece. It's got a leaf, a huge coprolite (not in this photo) and what was labeled as a Knightia. Problem is I'm 99% sure this is not a Knightia! Look at the caudal fin, the dorsal fin, and the skull.....to me this looks like an Amphiplaga!

Fossil Forum Friends, I put some fish up for possible trading on the trades section and wise @Fossildude19 reached out to me with a possible identification as a Amphiplaga brachyptera. This species makes up less than 1% of the known fish collected in the Green River Formation. Upon closer inspection it appears to be that species or it might just be a disarticulated Knightia. I really can't tell as I'm not a fish expert. Please provide your input. If it is a A. brachyptera can someone please PM me with a quote for preparing the fish and once it's prepared I'll get it framed at Michael's craft shop in a custom frame with an identification plaque. Shouldn't be a tough prep job. The fish is small and the matrix soft I just don't want to screw it up if it is a rare one. See attached. FYI @Ptychodus04 @sseth @FossilDudeCO @RJB

On June 3rd and 4th I ditched my regular hunting grounds for the opportunity to meet up with a forum member @Seve78 at one of the Pay to Dig quarries in Kemmerer, Wyoming. Tom chose to spend Saturday at Warfield Quarry and Sunday with me at American Fossil (AKA Fish Dig) which is run by our very own TFF member @sseth Tom was an absolute pleasure to dig with and he filled his suitcase with literally tons of treasures to take home, I would meet up again in a heartbeat! I arrived at 9:30am on Saturday and spent about 4 hours helping to prep the site for Tom on Sunday. I split down some of the larger blocks that had been pulled from the wall to allow them to dry. For those of you that have not been to Kemmerer for fish yet, the rock has to be AS DRY AS POSSIBLE, or else it is just a mushy mess that WILL NOT split! Dry rocks are near impossible to achieve with just 1 day of digging! Upon Tom's arrival at around 8:00am of Sunday we got to work! Here is Tom starting his search through some of the rock that had been pulled! Here is a picture of the area I was working. I brought my long chisels and a couple of short ones for good measure. Along with 3 hammers and nippers for trimming down my finds. Both halves of a nice multi plate presented themselves for me about 3 hours in! Once all the rock had been pulled it was time to trim them up for transport. Trusty old table saw, the fastest way in the west to lose a finger! My haul after just 6 hours of total digging time was pretty impressive. All trimmed up and laid out on the table ready to go home, these finds were all delivered to the Morrison Museum of Natural History in Morrison, CO. I wanted them to have some fish for their collections and left everything as found so they could try their hands at prep! The big fish on the front of the table is a 90% complete Phareodus. This is a relatively small one, they could reach up to about 25 inches in length! I left this one with Patrick to give to Seth, maybe he can make something of it! My find of the day though was also my smallest...a Juvenile Amphiplaga brachyptera... This is the RAREST fish the Pay to Dig quarries will let you keep, and only my second one ever found in 4 years of digging Green River fishies. They do not present in the 18" layer I usually dig, only the split fish layers. I found a full grown adult measuring in at just over 5 inches and now this juvenile to add to my collection. I don't usually post much for FOTM, but this guy is headed that way! Whether he wins or not though, he has made me one happy digger! If anyone else is down for a meet-up shoot me a PM! I will be heading back to Seth's quarry on June 24-25 and always love to meet fellow TFF members! Hope you all enjoyed my trip report, see you soon! -Blake As I was leaving the quarry, we had some furry guests waiting in line for their turn to dig up some fishies!