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High schooler unearths giant gar skull (Wyoming, Green River Formation)
Oxytropidoceras posted a topic in Fossil News
Fish story for the ages: High schooler unearths rare fossil by University of Chicago, September 30, 2019 https://news.uchicago.edu/story/fish-story-ages-high-schooler-unearths-rare-fossil https://phys.org/news/2019-09-fish-story-ages-high-schooler.html Yours, Paul H. -
I have recently bought a fossil fish prep kit,tried to do it and have done for 5 hours,however randomly a small piece falls off and Ive gone as slow as possible is there anything i could do to help?
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Hey everybody! I realized I never made a thread for my internship at the Field Museum in Chicago this summer. I interned as a fossil preparator under Akiko Shinya in the McDonald’s Fossil Preparation Laboratory (that’s the “fish bowl” lab on the second floor right next to Evolving Planet with the big window). There were some amazing things being prepared in the lab - an Antarctic Lystrosaurus, lots of Dicynodonts, Green River fish (some massive Phareodus), Sauropod femurs and ribs, a massive slab containing several sturgeon and paddlefish - but I’m not sure if I am allowed to post pictures of them, so for the sake of confidentiality I won’t just in case. This is the lab, and I always sat in the red chair, right up next to the window. One of my favorite parts of this internship was seeing all the little kids so excited about what we were doing in there and interacting with them. I was preparing a Priscacara serrata (specimen PF 16961) from the Green River formation of Wyoming, Eocene (~52 mya). All I used was a pin vise and an Amscope stereoscope. This fish also seemed to have slightly “exploded” from the pressure of fossilization as well, it’s jaw was crooked and head smashed, thought most fins seemed surprisingly well intact. The prep took 199.5 hours to complete, from May to August. I finished the prep on the final day of my internship, staying late after the museum had closed to the public and all the others in the lab had gone home. But it was far worth it, because "your name will forever be associated with this specimen." -Akiko Shinya I took a picture at the end of every day and I made a time lapse with it to see the growth! The link is at the bottom of the post. (I kept that floating scale in front of its mouth because I thought it was kind of funny that it looked like the fish was trying to eat it!) You can watch the time lapse Here
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My girlfriend, Valerie and I planned a two week trip to New Mexico and Colorado to visit friends, see scenery, and attend the Peach Festival in Palisades. Of course fossil collecting would be a part of it. I spent a full day with PFOOLEY outside Albuquerque in the Puerco Valley hunting ammonites in the Carlile Member of the Upper Cretaceous Mancos Shale.
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When I was preparing this fossil I didn’t 100% know what it was but now am even more confused. The vertebrae’s do not match up with the fossil and the body seems pretty weird to. So if anyone could help me with this fish that would be awesome. And no it’s not a fake a prepared it myself.
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The family and just returned from awesome road trip that included a couple days of fossil hunting the Green River Formation at one of the commercial quarries open to the (paying) public near Kemmerer Wyoming. It was our first time and all three of us, especially my four year old daughter, had a great time splitting rock for fish fossils.The first day we spent splitting what the guys at the quarry called "upper layers". The stuff was on the soft side, split easy and had lots of small fish, mostly knights and diplomystus. The second they had us working stuff they referred to as "lower layers". This stuff was relatively harder but had some waves in it that made it much more difficult to split. It seemed worth the extra effort, because although we found less fish overall the second day, they were some bigger fish. I found a mioplosus and 3 phareodus of varying sizes, preservation and completeness, along with a few more little guys.Everything I found was far from perfect, and even my best finds need some work, but we came home with some cool stuff and some awesome family memories I will forever cherish. It was a great trip that was the first of what I suspect will be many out that way. As a side note, while in the area we swung by Lehi, UT to visit the Musuem of Ancient Life. This place was incredible and an absolute highlight of our trip. If you like fossils, and I can only assume you do if you're reading this, this museum will not disappoint. This is the quarry we huntedSome of the knightia and diplosA mostly complete mioplosus that needs a little prep.This phareodus is in pretty bad shape and missing more than half its body, but is big enough to make you get out of the water.Another phareodus, not as big but much better condition.This was my favorite find of the trip. Smaller than the other two phareodus but more complete. After a little repair and prep work this should be a neat fish.
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Erismatopterus is only known from Lake Gosiute and Lake Uinta deposits. It is one of the rarer Green River fish fossils, except in some mass mortality zones. Erismatopterus belongs together with its close relative Amphiplaga to the family Percopsidae within the order Percopsiformes. Amphiplaga is best distinguished from Erismatopterus by its dorsal fin, which has three hard spines (the first one is very small) followed by 9 or 10 soft rays. Erismatopterus usually has two hard spines followed by 6 or 7 soft spines. Amphiplaga can reach up to 15cm with an average length of about 10cm while Erismatopterus does not exceed 12cm with an average length of about 5cm. The Order Percopsiformes is a small order of North American freshwater fishes that includes three families: Amblyopsidae (cavefishes); Aphredoderidae (pirate perches); and Percopsidae (trout-perches). Closely related to neither trout nor perch, trout-perches have characteristics of both the trout and perch families. They exhibit characters of the salmonids, such as an adipose fin, cycloid scales, and soft fin rays, as well as characters of the percids, such as dorsal and anal fin spines, and ctenoid scales. Trout-perch are generally silvery in appearance, often with a partially transparent appearance, and relatively large heads and eyes. They are small fish with weak fin spines, and an adipose fin similar to those of trouts. They feed on insects and small crustaceans. Fossil percopsids are only known from North America, the current home of the extant genus Percopsis References: E. D. Cope (1877) A contribution to the knowledge of the ichthyological fauna of the Green River shales. Bulletin of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey 3(4):807-819. Grande, L. (1984) PALEONTOLOGY OF THE GREEN RIVER FORMATION, WITH A REVIEW OF THE FISH FAUNA. THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF WYOMING, BULLETIN 63.
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https://www.sciencenews.org/article/50-million-year-old-fossil-captures-swimming-school-fish Avid fisherman here, so this one piqued my interest. Not sure I buy into the collapsing sand dune theory of how the fish were (mostly) preserved in swimming orientation, but I found the repulsion/attraction discussion intriguing as i have seen that behavior by menhadden countless times while fishing in the Atlantic. Its easy to assume extinct animals acted similar to their modern cousins, but rare to see behavioral proof. The abstract for the paper is here: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2019.0891
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From the album: Vertebrates
Amphiplaga brachyptera COPE, 1877 Middle Eocene Kemmerer Wyoming USA Length 8cm -
From the album: Vertebrates
Atracosteus simplex (Leidy, 1873) former name: Lepisosteus simplex Middle Eocene Green River Formation Kemmerer Wyoming USA Length 29"/ 73cm -
Asterotrygon maloneyi Carvalho, Maisey & Grande 2004
oilshale posted a gallery image in Member Collections
From the album: Vertebrates
Asterotrygon maloneyi Carvalho, Maisey & Grande 2004 Middle Eocene Kemmerer Wyoming USA -
From the album: Fossildude's Purchased/Gift Fossils
Recent acquisition of mis-identified fossil fish. Listed as Knightia eocaena, I knew the head was the wrong shape. A closer look revealed pectoral spines, and a dorsal spine. I knew then that it was a juvenile catfish. This is most likely an Astephus antiquus. Green River Formation. Length 1- 3/4 inches.© © 2019 T. Jones
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From the album: Fossildude's Purchased/Gift Fossils
Amphiplaga brachyptera - misidentified by seller as a Knightia eocaena. Eocene fish, Green River Formation Fossil Lake Wyoming© 2017 Tim Jones
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I would like some help identifying some trace fossils. These are all from the same site from the "Soldier Summit Fossil Track Horizon" area in the Eocene Green River Formation. My grandson and I collected these for his science fair project, so any insight is welcome. Fossil A is obviously a tail feather. It's length is 55mm. Fossil B has shore-bird tracks, but please notice the insect track in the right side. What kind of insect could have made this? Fossil C and D are different sides of the same rock. For side C, I initially thought that this might be bird tracks, but I they don't look anything like the classic pattern in the sample B. Fossil D is covered with fine lines, perhaps some worm tracks? Close-ups E and F zoom in on these tracks. Close-up E shows a mottled pattern on the left, perhaps an alge mat? On the left, a wavy track. I don't know how a worm could create this pattern. Close-up F shows fine lines.
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This fish fossil is from the Green River Formation, These fossils are enclosed in a thin layer of shale. The vertebrae are 33mm long, possibly Knightia? On the left upper edge of the rock is a fin. I had a x-ray taken and I see several straight pin shaped ribs? However they are a poor match for ribs described in "Paleontology of the Green River Formation, with a review of the fish fauna" (Grande, 1984). These "ribs" are very straight. There is also the central rod-like thing, which is perhaps plant material? I thought a X-ray would review hidden secrets, but it hasn't really adding anything I couldn't see with my naked eye. This forum is a joy to browse. I'm very appreciative of the responses I've gotten from my previously ID requests so far. I am certainly learning! Any ideas as to what I'm seeing?
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I collected several of these small round balls in limestone (shale?) from the Eocene Green River Formation. The location is Tucker, Spanish Fork Canyon, Utah. The diameter is about 13mm, about the width of my small fingernail. When these are broken open, I see that the sphere is packed with 0.2mm white "crystals". I say "crystals" because they look like calcite to me and some have small (0.05mm) hollow spaces. The crystal density is least in the center of the sphere. FYI, the limestone does show small amounts of black organic fragments. In the field, these look very much like a fossil, but under the microscope, the cross-section looks like it is geological in origin. Any ideas?
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Found this 2.5 inch fish earlier this month at a fossil quarry in Kemmerer. I think the dorsal fin structure more closely resembles the relatively rare Hypsiprisca rather than Amphiplaga, but any opinions are welcome. The head preservation is not optimal. I've provided a close-up photo of the lower section of the head, which appears to show sharp teeth.
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Hi. Good afternoon to everyone! In one lot, the seller is selling these two fossil fish. Please, then I have two questions: 01 - Any makeup or paint here? It's real? 02 - Which one is Knightia eocaena and which one is Knightia alta? Or are the two of a specie? Thanks for all the comments! Fish 01 Fish 02
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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.
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So I recently bought this fish fossil from an antique shop, supposedly, from the Green River formation in Wyoming. The specimen is about 17 centimeters or 6 inches long, I purchased it because of its relatively low price, but most of all, it's quite large! I'm very limited in knowledge of fish, so I figured I would post it here on the forum, any ideas? I'll also add more photos if needed, thanks in advance.
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Just finished prepping this great Diplomystus found by a guest at our quarry. It was the first fossil they have ever found so I wanted it to be something special for them. Not much to work with but it turned out pretty good. I used a scribe to clean up the fish a bit, PVA to stabilize the fossil and prevent further flaking, and then had to do some restoration using fossil putty and a bit of touch up paint to restore a few missing areas for them, as they wanted a piece that they could hang on their wall and display.
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I just have to brag about @Ptychodus04 a bit more. This man is a master at preparing fossil fish. Someday I hope to be a fraction as good as he is. Here's what he ended up with on the Priscacara I sent him. This was not an easy prep. The right side was completely covered with matrix and the left side exposed. He glued the pieces back together and started prepping on the right side top down. Excellent job Kris. Here's what he sent me.
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Hi all! I returned from my trip out west a few days ago and wanted to have some fossils identified before I do my big recap of my experience and my photos from the field. Here are some specimens I found of which I'm not certain of their identity. (This will not be my last post of this type from this trip). 1. Small theropod tooth (Richardoestesia sp.?, Acheroraptor temertyorum?). (There appear to be serrations on the front of the tooth but the majority of them seem to have worn off or did not extend further than midway through the tooth). (Near Newcastle, WY, Lance Fm.). 2. Turtle/Croc toe bone? (Near Newcastle, WY, Lance Fm.). 3. Larvae? (Douglas Pass, Green River Fm.).
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FYI @Ptychodus04 @RJB I have some Herkimer Green River Formation fish I just dug up last month and they look really nice but half of them are covered in the sedimentary limestone. There's a bunch that are halfway covered. The matrix is real sticky and just doesn't want to come off. I tried pulling off chunks with some dental tools but had to quickly stop as that was damaging the fossil. Every time I pull up a chunk it takes the fossil with it. I'm thinking about getting a nice air scribe. I found a nice Chicago Pneumatic CP-9361 but have heard that these scribes can be tough on fossils. All these fish are from the split fish layers and I've heard this layer can be challenging to work with. Should I pickup the CP-9361 or go for another scribe such as an AERO/ARO? I can't seem to find an AERO/ARO anywhere. Paleotools sells a modified ARO but those are about $650 and that's a bit past my budget. What are your thoughts? I was also going to get a decent sized air compressor that goes up to 125 PSI. Thanks everyone. Here's a picture with some of the fish. The bottom right fish are good but the rest need to be prepared out.
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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
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