Rare Fossil Rayfish

Rare Fossil Rayfish 

Aspidorhynchus acutirostris

Jurassic

Solnhofen, Germany

35 inches long from nose to tail, in 46 1/2 x 29 inches matrix. An excellent specimen, with the scales and bones perfectly preserved in the limestone matrix, with only some very minor classic restorations. 

Aspidorhynchus is an extinct genus of predatory, ray-finned fish whose name literally translates as "shield snout" (due to their upper jaws being much longer than their lower.) A long, slender, fast-moving fish from the Cretaceous and Jurassic periods, its fossils have been found in Antarctica and Europe, the present example having been discovered in the limestone beds of Solnhofen, Germany.