Large Fossil Sand Fish

Large Fossil Sand Fish

Notogoneus osculus

Eocene

Green River Formation, Wyoming, USA

Uncommonly large for its species, measuring 25 inches in length on natural matrix of 28 1/8 x 41 1/2 x 3/4 inches (71.4 x 105.4 x 1.9 cm).

The Notogoneus is one of the rarer species to be found in the Green River fossil record.

A native to the complex of freshwater lakes that 50 million years later are known as the famous Green River Formation in Wyoming, it is thought that this species was a nocturnal bottom feeder. They had no teeth and few bones in the skull, yet a few have been spectacularly preserved in the fossil record such as this example.

PROVENANCE

Chait Auction New York, March 21, 2008 (lot 293)

Private Florida collection from 2008 till the present.