Huge, 10" Priscacara Fossil Fish - Top Quality Example

Huge, Priscacara Fossil Fish - Top Quality Example #77878

This is a huge, 10" long Priscacara serrata from the Green River Formation of Wyoming. It was collected from the famous 18 inch layer. This layer produces much darker preservation, but the fish require more preparation work as they typically split out almost entirely under the surface of the rock. The color is completely natural without any touchups. It is nicely centered on a 14.5 x 10.2" slab of shale which has been backed and has a wall hanger installed. A truly gorgeous piece.

50 million years ago, in the Eocene, these fish thrived in Fossil Lake, which was fed by the Uinta and Rocky Mountain highlands. The anoxic conditions at the bottom of Fossil Lake slowed bacterial decomposition, prevented scavengers from disturbing corpses and, most interestingly, suffocated creatures that ventured into the oxygen-starved aquatic layer. The result is a miraculous exhibition of Eocene biota: a subtropical aquatic community within sycamore forests, teeming with creatures such as freshwater stingrays, dog-sized horses, menacing alligators, early flying bats, and one of the first primates.

A view of one of the commercial quarries where fossils from the Green River Formation are collected.

Dig Your Own Fossils At Fossil Lake Safari