Fossil Fish

[dhiggi]

Bit of a long shot this one, but here goes…

My daughter has recently been given a small collection by a colleague of her mother who heard she was interested in fossils. The previous owner had clearly done a bit of collecting around Lyme Regis and also bought a few pieces. There’s a few Moroccan pieces (low grade trilo, some Mosasaur tooth crowns), an insect in amber and some Madagascan stuff. By far the most interesting piece though is this fish; it has no label and I have no idea where in the world it could have come from. Can anyone shed any light on possible provenance or even identify the species?

Many thanks for looking 

[Fossildude19]

To me, this looks a bit like Jianghanichthys hubeiensis, from the Paleocene of Hubei, China. 

Not the best preservation, so I'm not 100% on the ID. Maybe @oilshale or @rocket will weigh in.

The fish is currently displayed upside down, however.

 

Backbone should always be at the top:

 

[dhiggi]

1 minute ago, Fossildude19 said:

To me, this looks a bit like Jianghanichthys from the Paleocene of Hubei, China. 

Not the best preservation, so I'm not 100% on the ID. Maybe @oilshale or @rocket will weigh in.

The fish is currently displayed upside down, however.

 

Backbone should always be at the top:

 

Thank you. I did a quick search for “fossil fish” on a popular auction site after posting here, found a lot of those on sale and thought they look similar. The price point and availability would certainly match the rest of the collection 

[Paleorunner]

20 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

The fish is currently displayed upside down, however.

 

Backbone should always be at the top:

 

 

Well, it seems to me that he is well positioned, it seems that the spine, in the central part  sinks downwards, giving an erroneous perspective. 

Edited November 30, 2022 by Paleorunner

[Fossildude19]

39 minutes ago, Paleorunner said:

Well, it seems to me that he is well positioned, it seems that the spine, in the central part  sinks downwards, giving an erroneous perspective. 

 

 

Here is my Jianhangichthys. 

 

 

Note  the position of the vertebral column, and the large dorsal fin.

It is larger than the other fins.

I have corrected the orientation in my other post - you can clearly see the dorsal fin at the mid point of the back, at the apex of the hump.

Perhaps, I should have specified at the top of the skull. 

[Paleorunner]

1 hour ago, Fossildude19 said:

 

 

Here is my Jianhangichthys. 

 

 

Note  the position of the vertebral column, and the large dorsal fin.

It is larger than the other fins.

I have corrected the orientation in my other post - you can clearly see the dorsal fin at the mid point of the back, at the apex of the hump.

Perhaps, I should have specified at the top of the skull. 

hahaha... well, we're both right, I read your publication, and I thought you were referring to your published photo. 

[rocket]

14 hours ago, dhiggi said:

Bit of a long shot this one, but here goes…

My daughter has recently been given a small collection by a colleague of her mother who heard she was interested in fossils. The previous owner had clearly done a bit of collecting around Lyme Regis and also bought a few pieces. There’s a few Moroccan pieces (low grade trilo, some Mosasaur tooth crowns), an insect in amber and some Madagascan stuff. By far the most interesting piece though is this fish; it has no label and I have no idea where in the world it could have come from. Can anyone shed any light on possible provenance or even identify the species?

Many thanks for looking 

 

might be Jianghanichthys, they were common on the market some time ago. Could you post a pic of the back-side?