Museum Cladocyclus Fossil Fish from Brazil

Description: This amazing specimen was found in a concretion consisting of four parts that were reassembled. It is possible that one of the parts (the caudal fin) is from another fossil concretion, making this a composite piece. There has also been some carving done to enhance the fins and scales. This evidently was a common practice in the preparation of these very large fossil fish, which were rarely found 100% complete. I have reflected this in the pricing of the fossil.

The Araripe Basin of Brazil is home to a fantastic array of exquisitely-detailed Early Cretaceous fossils, some of which have been preserved in three dimensions. Quarrying operations for the purposes of obtaining paving stones exposes the remarkable fauna in much the same way that quarrying for lithographic limestone in Solnhofen has afforded a panoply of wonderfully-preserved Jurassic fossils in Germany. This large nodule contains much of the remains of an Icthyodectiform known as Cladocyclus garneri. It was one of the original seven fish from the region named by Louis Agassiz in the 1840s Its sleek shape, upturned mouth, and sharp teeth shows it to have been an active surface predator. It was related to both Xiphactinus and Gillicus, the types known to comprise the world-renowned Fish-Within-A-Fish specimens, the most dramatic of which can be seen at the Sternberg Museum in Kansas. Concretions such as this preserve many details with remarkable fidelity
(See page 481 of Frickhinger’s book FOSSIL FISH ATLAS for more detailed information.)

Brazil a few years ago banned the export of fossils from the Santana Formation. This fish was purchased from the estate liquidation of a deceased fossil dealer and is perfectly legal. This is a unique opportunity to obtain an increasingly rare fossil fish from a site now closed to commercial collecting..