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Wanted to show this phareodus encaustus prior to preparation that my daughter found during our Father's Day night dig in the 18" layer in the Green River Formation in Kemmerer, WY. The team with us, and some experts looking at it after, now suspect that it is aspirated, perhaps with a notogoneus. Having it examined by xray prior to preparation as we may end donating this one to Fossil Butte Monument if it is what it looks like. Phareodus is every bit of 24" in length or longer. The best Father's Day gift was the sheer joy of my 9 year-old daughter upon her discovery. We love searching together.

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.