GallinaPinta Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 (edited) Hello, I bought a small fossil that looks like a small eel fish. Is it just a knightia from a top angle? Or is it something else? Also the back part of the rock was revealing a small brown spot. I got curious and started chipping away and I found another fossil! That one looks like a knightia eocaena but since I'm so new I can never be too sure. Help will always be appreciated! Edited January 10, 2017 by GallinaPinta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GallinaPinta Posted January 10, 2017 Author Share Posted January 10, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 I agree that both are knightia fossils. Tony Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 The first complete fish is a Knightia that has been painted. I think from the size of the tail, the other might be a Mioplosis. 1 Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDudeCO Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 The complete painted one you have is a Knightia eocaena in dorsal view (from the top down) These are fun little fossils to find! I really like the dorsal views. Tim is correct about the second being a Mioplosis tail. These both come from the split fish layers of Green River Formation in Kemmerer, Wyoming. They are Eocene (~52myo) The Mioplosis tail is a very nice find 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GallinaPinta Posted January 11, 2017 Author Share Posted January 11, 2017 So is the knightia a fake or was it just painted to enhance it's beauty? Also thank you for the replies! It's amazing I found the other fossil, and it was my first experience ever carving one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDudeCO Posted January 11, 2017 Share Posted January 11, 2017 2 minutes ago, GallinaPinta said: So is the knightia a fake or was it just painted to enhance it's beauty? Also thank you for the replies! It's amazing I found the other fossil, and it was my first experience ever carving one! It is a real fish, it was simply painted to enhance it. Here are some fish that came straight out of the quarry I work at. You can see that they are not quite as impressive, but this is how they look naturally! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GallinaPinta Posted January 11, 2017 Author Share Posted January 11, 2017 Wow. It must be great to find so many in such fantastic condition. That's amazing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDudeCO Posted January 11, 2017 Share Posted January 11, 2017 24 minutes ago, GallinaPinta said: Wow. It must be great to find so many in such fantastic condition. That's amazing Those were found in about 1 day of digging Around 5,000 are found in that condition in 1 summer, from 3 of us digging. And we only dig those for a couple of weeks, most of our energy is spent in the "18 inch layer" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDudeCO Posted January 11, 2017 Share Posted January 11, 2017 The one thing that always sticks with me though, no matter how many I find.... I am the first human to ever lay eyes on it. It has been sitting there untouched for 50 million years. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GallinaPinta Posted January 11, 2017 Author Share Posted January 11, 2017 I envy you! It's a real privilege to be the first to ever discover such fossils of creatures that lived so long ago. I never even thought that these amazing fossils would be so common and possible to acquire. I always thought that the price of a small genuine fish would be thousands of dollars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GallinaPinta Posted January 11, 2017 Author Share Posted January 11, 2017 Wow I just realized that I'm the first to discover the fish tail that I carved..I didn't even think about it that way until you said that 21 minutes ago, FossilDudeCO said: The one thing that always sticks with me though, no matter how many I find.... I am the first human to ever lay eyes on it. It has been sitting there untouched for 50 million years. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted January 11, 2017 Share Posted January 11, 2017 The complete fish is most likely only the imprint of the fish - I believe that if the ink were removed, you would have a hard time seeing the rest of it. Some of the imprint was missed when the ink/paint was applied. Commercial sellers will paint a marginal fossil to make it look better, so that they can sell it. These are such common fish fossils, and many aren't in great shape when exposed, but the dealers wish to get as much out of their time spent digging as they can - hence the enhancements. I personally think this is a dubious practice if it isn't mentioned in the advertisement for the fossil that it is "enhanced", and the extent of the "enhancement". 3 Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now