Knightia eoceana

This knightia eoceana was still buried in stone when I extracted it from the 12” or split fish layer. The bones and some scales are very well preserved with a dark reddish brown. It is over 4” long on a piece of matrix that is approximately 6” x 4” x 3/4”  shipping and packaging is included in the price.

These fish are by and large the most abundant and prolific fish from the Green River Formation. They are related to modern herring, and average between 3 and 5 inches with a maximum size of 10 inches. Knightia was apt to school throughout its life in the pursuit of its favorite food, plankton. There are two recognized species of Knightia, K. eoceana and K. alta. K. eocana is the more common of the two and is substantially more abundant in Fossil Lake deposits. Mass mortality plates have produced significant evidence of the enormity of school sizes for Knightia species, with a few large plates averaging 100 fish per square meter and overall they represent about 50% of the fossil fish found in the formation.