Jump to content

Two fish in one fossil?


jnicholes

Recommended Posts

Hello,

 

I was looking at one of my fossils, a Mioplosus I found in Wyoming to be exact, and I noticed some weird bumps in the rock under the jaw. I was like, "Is that a spine? It cant be."

 

Now, the mouth of the Mioplosus was mangled, so you cant make out the jawline. After seeing what looked like a spinal chord under the mouth, I had a theory, "What if the mangled mouth is actually another fish the Mioplosus was eating when it died?"

 

After gently scraping away some of the rock around the bumps I thought were a spinal chord, I confirmed my theory to be correct. There was another fish in the fossil. This Mioplosus was eating another fish, a Diplomystus, to be exact.

 

What do you guys think? Two fish in one?

 

Pictures are attached.

 

Jared

Mioplosus _1.jpg

Mioplosus_2.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure you can say the Mioplosus was eating the Diplomystus. 

Fish very often overlap each other in the Green River Formation.

This may be a coincidental placement of one fish on top of another. 

 

Can we get a picture without the markings? 

  • I found this Informative 2

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  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

 what a coincidence that you said that. I was just looking under a magnifier and thought the same thing. It is possible that they overlap each other.

 

Let me get another picture without the markings. Give me 5 minutes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here you go. It may not be eating it, now that I look closer. You could be right.

 

Regardless, its pretty cool that they overlapped in my opinion.

20191008_084005.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From this enhanced image, ... to me, it looks like it came to rest  on top of the Mioplosus.

 

20191008-2humb.jpg   

 

Not sure of the piece circled here:

 

20191008_08400mandibleb.jpg   20191008_084005.thumb.jpg.ae5776247602eda53bd7394620b30eca.jpg

 

Depending on what it is, could be a clue as to what happened.

 

 

Regardless of the situation, it is a real cool double fish piece.  :) 

 

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  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

Thank you for the input. To be honest, I didn't notice that one piece you pointed out in the second picture. Either the mandible piece of the Mioplosus or the support piece for the diplomystus. I'll have to look at that underneath my high power magnifier. Maybe it'll show what it is.

 

Phone is dying, so after it's charged I will post what I find.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Definitely fin supports. 

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  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

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 account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...