wierd prep or bad fish

[Kittenmittens]

Got this fish from a popular fossil site for their new years sale. The longer I look at it the more red flags I am seeing. It was listed as unidentified, upper cretaceous-lower Turonian stage, Asfla Goulmima Morocco. All my other fish are either Green River or from Lebanon so I don't have anything to compare it to. First flag the entire top of the fish looks carved from the matrix. Second the matrix is riddled with bubbles on all sides and the back. Last once I borrowed a black light the matrix is dotted fluorescence throughout as well as a border around the fish. Am I just ignorant to how these are prepped or is my gut right?

[Kittenmittens]

[Kittenmittens]

[Herb]

Looks like it has been "doctored" to me also.

[Fossildude19]

Can we get a picture of the whole fish? 

[Kittenmittens]

3 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

Can we get a picture of the whole fish? 

Here are a couple of the pictures from the site. Thanks for the replies so far.

[digit]

Is it possible that this fish was placed into a nicer looking block of matrix to enhance its looks? The 3D look of the actual fossil reminds me of those common fishes that were once available from Brazil. One of my wife's co-workers picker one up for her years ago in a market in Brazil. The UV lighting does seem suspicious. Fish from Morocco are far from my specialty but your red flags to seem to have merit.

 

Nice looking fish that I hope you got for a reasonable price.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Kittenmittens]

13 minutes ago, digit said:

Is it possible that this fish was placed into a nicer looking block of matrix to enhance its looks? The 3D look of the actual fossil reminds me of those common fishes that were once available from Brazil. 

Remount is sounding like it might be going down the right track. The fish has a repaired crack towards the tail(was mention on the listing) but I cant find a trace of a crack in the matrix. The anal fin has a small section that looks almost like its lifting a bit from the matrix. That fin has the most "glow" around it, maybe glue? If it was a remount why would the top of the fish not look embedded in the matrix instead of carved out of it? Thanks for all the quick replies.

[steelhead9]

Definitely a Brazilian fish, likely vinctifer, with a poor quality head, but decent body. Clearly remounted or at least resurfaced as the matrix does not at all resemble Santana matrix. A photo of the backside of the piece should clarify this. 

[Fossildude19]

Not a Vinctifer, however - wrong type of scales.

More likely is Rhacolepis. But I agree Brazil is likely origin.

Remounting them seems to be more of a thing, these days. 

 

LINK

 

On some of these, you can see fins painted on.  And the 2nd photo shows a specimen that looks like the concretion was carved down.

Probably just for aesthetics, but could be a technique for remounting.

 

      

[Kittenmittens]

48 minutes ago, steelhead9 said:

Definitely a Brazilian fish, likely vinctifer, with a poor quality head, but decent body. Clearly remounted or at least resurfaced as the matrix does not at all resemble Santana matrix. A photo of the backside of the piece should clarify this. 

The second post has a picture of the back of the matrix. The matrix almost seems like plaster with all the air bubbles and how it lights up under blacklight. This site gets a ton of morracan fossils and nothing from Brazil so I am not sure about it being from Brazil. The site does say in it's listing it's similar to Brazilian specimens. 

[steelhead9]

1 hour ago, Kittenmittens said:

The second post has a picture of the back of the matrix. The matrix almost seems like plaster with all the air bubbles and how it lights up under blacklight. This site gets a ton of morracan fossils and nothing from Brazil so I am not sure about it being from Brazil. The site does say in it's listing it's similar to Brazilian specimens. 

After a bit of research, I retract what I said about this likely being a Brazilian vinctifer. I do believe it to be from Morocco. The Moroccan fish I have seen do have a very hard, light colored matrix, but the matrix on this just looks weird. On the side view photo it appears the matrix is two slabs bonded together. Maybe original matrix backed with cement for strength?

[Kittenmittens]

10 hours ago, steelhead9 said:

On the side view photo it appears the matrix is two slabs bonded together. Maybe original matrix backed with cement for strength?

The site I bought the fish from has a similar one listed. In its description it actually says The back of the rock has been backed for stabilization to allow for a wall hanger to be installed. So I believe you are right about concrete back because the matrixes look identical. Any ideas of why the fish has a uv reactive border around it though? 

[steelhead9]

I am still suspicious that the fish was transferred to a new matrix, whether that be actual stone from the site or not. In my experience, I have never seen a Moroccan fish matrix that was as clean and neat as this one. UV reaction to the border between fossil and matrix would support this suspicion. Still, the fish itself is pretty nice. 

[Seguidora-de-Isis]

It is not a Rhacolepis buccalis, nor is it a Vinctifer Comptoni or any other Brazilian fish. It's a Moroccan fish! Although the fish found in Goulmima on the foot of the Atlas mountains present a level of preservation very similar to those we are accustomed to seeing in Brazil, they are completely different species! This fish of this post, is of the species: Goulmimichthys arambourgi, that is, an fish extremely common in Goulmima.

 

 

Unfortunately, the Goulmima craftsmen have a bad habit of sculpting the missing parts of the carbonate concretions, or, with a technique used in Goulmima with weak hydrochloric acid, they remove the fish from the original concretion leaving the fish as exposed as possible to accommodate it in another matrix, and thus with more freedom, artisans can even insert genuine parts that were previously missing:

 

 

But of course small sculptures to unite the parts are part of this process:

 

 

 

And a total painting in the fish helps to "hide" everything that was done!

 

 

[michele 1937]

and a composition work.
inserted in a stone slab.

Michele

[Kittenmittens]

Thank you everyone who took the time to help me figure this out.