Uncommon Vinciguerria Lightfish Fossil

Description: The black on black matrix made this a difficult fish to photograph. The fish and matrix are darker than my photos represent. The preservation is quite good. The contemporary species of this genus has photophores along it’s body. I do not know if the Oligocene species had these light spots.

The contemporary Lightfish is a long slender fish with an enormous disproportionately sized eye and a series of photophores along its sides and belly

The Carpathians offer one of the world’s premier collecting sites for Oligocene fossil salt-water fossil fish. Note the photo of the collecting locality.