Fossil Fish

[bakergeol]

Here is my Mioplosus. It is a fossil fish from the Eocene in the Green River Formation of Wyoming.
It is about 14" long and is a unique ancestor of today's Perch.

George

 

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[retro-redux]

George,
That is great! WOW

How did you find it-was it out in the open or did you have to dig for it?
Laura

 

[Nana40]

Isn't that something!!!!!

WOW!

Great fossil!!

Nana

 

[bakergeol]

I obtained it from a quarry(dig for fee) about 25 years ago. I was afraid of destroying it so I had someone prepare it for me. No they were not in the open- you had to crack a lot of rock. You looked for bumps in the side of the rock and then split the shale. I just had a very lucky day. It is a better specimen than they have in the Denver museum.

George

 

[retro-redux]

George,
You just answered a question that had been bugging me-how to know which rocks to split.
Thanks man ,
Laura

 

[allen]

that is an awesome fossil. keep on digging !!!!

 

[bk]

Kinda looks like something I had for supper the other night.

 

[bakergeol]

Well I used to have a frame for it and I hung it on the wall. However, some cracks appeared and I took it down. I plan and using some spray lacquer or glue? on it but haven't decided which yet. For this type of fossil the shale is so thin that you can readily split it with a chisel.

George

 

[futzman]

I've been using Vinac with good success preserving fragile shale and thin fossils.? You can make it yourself by buying some PVA (Polyvinyl Acetate) from this place:

http://www.bhigr.com/store/product.php?productid=262&cat=12&bestseller

I comes in bead form then you have to dissolve it in Acetone (very flammable!) you can get at the paint or hardware store.? I use their recommended dilution of 2 oz/gal.? If you dissolve 1/4 cup of beads in 16 oz of acetone that works out to about 2 oz/gal.? The beads dissolve pretty slowly so just let it set overnight and stir it some (with a steel spoon).

The pros use this stuff for stabilizing fossil dinosaur bones so it must be pretty good!

Btw, that's one AWESOME fossil!

Richard