Prionolepis Predator and Prey Fish Fossils

Prionolepis cataphractus with Hajulia sp.

Geological Time: Middle Cretaceous, Middle Cenomanian Stage (~95 mya)

Size (25.4 mm = 1 inch): Prionolepis: 140 mm Hajulia: 18-27 mm on a 167 mm by 80 mm matrix

Fossil Site: Lebanese Lagerstatt, Haqel, Lebanon

Fossil Code: RN28

Price: $195.00


Prionolepis Predator and Prey Fish FossilsDescription: Prionolepis is betrayed as a predator by the long gape of the mouth. This genus went extinct by the Upper Cretaceous. It is surround by 3 smaller fish which most likely served as prey. Hajulia is a small fish that went extinct in the Cretaceous, but is possibly related to the recent genus Pterothrissus. Several specimens I have had had actually preserved fish within the gut of the fish.Those are miniature versions of my favorite fish plaque: The 4 m long Xiphactinus with a 2 m Gillicus in its stomach to be seen as the fantastic “fish-within-a-fish” at the Sternberg Museum in Hays, Kansas. Notice too the pair of crinoids on the reverse. The behavior of fossils is rarely preserved, but this plaque is definitive proof of what the Prionolepis was doing shortly before its demise. The repaired cracks do little to detract from this fine piece.

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