Juvenile Paleozoic Bear Gulch Fossil Fish

Paleonisciformes indet

Class Actinoptergyii

Geological Time: Mississippian (~320 m.y.a.)

Size (25.4 mm = 1 inch) 42 mm (tip of nose to tip of tail along backbone) Matrix: 110 mm by 100 mm

Fossil Site: Heath Shale Formation, Bear Gulch Limestone, Fergus County, Montana

Fossil Code: BGF395

Price: Sold


Description: The Bear Gulch Limestone is a deposit of some 70 square km in extent and 30 m in depth that has been a source of one of the most diverse assemblages of fossil fish with some 110 species having been described over the past 30 years. Most were new to science, and provided a unique view of the marine environment of Mississippian times. Fine preservation of both fish and invertebrates is a hallmark of these deposits, presumably due to an anoxic depositional environment. This fish is a juvenile palaeoniscoid of uncertain affinities. Even at such a small size, the detail for a specimen nearly a third of a BILLION years old is remarkable.

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