Eocene Green River Mioplosus Aspiration
Sorry, this item is no longer for sale
Mioplosus labracoides
Aspirating Knightia sp.
Green River Formation
Middle Eocene
Lincoln County, Wyoming
This is a dramatic example of the species that died while devouring a tiny Knightia. This specimen has excellent preservation and detail for this locality. Often Mioplosus specimens have significant disarticulation but this example has perfect articulation. The fish body is just under 10 cm long. There is no repair or restoration. This is a rare specimen that highlights the predaceous nature of the species even early in life.
Mioplosus is the largest perciform fish found in the Green River Formation. The genus makes up about 2 to 4 percent of the total fish fauna. Mioplosus is easy to distinguish from the other perciform genera in the formation because of its very elongate fusiform body shape, the presence of two distinct dorsal fins, and a moderately forked tail fin. The maximum size for this species is about 20 inches but very large examples are quite rare. Mioplosus was evidently a very predaceous species as indicated by dozens of known specimens with fishes in their jaws or stomachs. Even as very young recently hatched individuals, this species was already cannibalistic, feeding on other small Mioplosus.
$1500