Awesome Viper Fish Fossil Predator and Prey
"RARE Shrimp within Eurypholis Viper Fish"

Carpopenaeus sp. (shrimp) within Eurypholis boissieri (Viper Fish)

Geological Time: Eocene

Size (25.4 mm = 1 inch) Eurypholis: 135 mm Carpopenaeus: 45 mm (curve measure) on a 168 mm by 123 mm matrix

Fossil Site: Lebanese Lagerstatt, Haqel, Lebanon


Viper Fish FossilDescription: Eurypholis is betrayed as a predator by its wide gape and needle sharp teeth, allowing it to easily engulf smaller prey fish. The flanks carry a line of large bony scales, readily visible in the accompanying photos. This genus went extinct by the Upper Cretaceous. The shrimp is a member of the genus Carpopenaeus, a commonly-seen fossil from the region. The shrimp may have been too much for the Eurypholis to handle, leading to the death of the predator. This is a variant 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. While I have had several examples of Eurypholis with fish in their stomachs, this is the ONLY example with a shrimp I have seen in 6 years.

click to enlarge


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