From: Hakel Region, LebanonSize: 37.5 x 18 x 3.8cm (fossil) including frame 53 x 35cmWeight: 2346g (fossil only)This is an absolute gem of a find! Here we have three different species of fish on a single Cretaceous fossil plate which dates to about 100 million years ago. The small fish is Aipichthys, and the medium size fish is a Diplomystus, but the crowning glory of this fossil is the really long one. That is a fossil carpet shark of the species Mesiteia emiliae. Fossilized sharks are extremely rare because they are almost entirely cartilage, so usually all you find are jaws and teeth. However, some early Cretaceous sharks including Mesiteia sharks had spines in their fins, so more detail is preserved. You can actually see these spines preserved in this fossil in the closeup images. Finding a shark fossil from the Cretacous is rare enough, but to find a single plate with three distince species so beautifully arranged is out of this world! We have inspected this plate closely, and it does appear to be 100% legit. There has been some repair and stabilization work which you can see by the thin crack running down the middle of the plate, but all of the individual elements appear to be natural and true. Of course we guarantee this, so if any evidence to contrary ever surfaces we will always accept a return. The Airpichthys measures exactly 4cm long. The Diplomystus measures exactly 10cm, and the shark measures 20.2cm in a straight line from head to tail. This fossil comes mounted in a beautiful wood frame that is ready to be hung on a wall. The fossil is easily removed from the frame simply by loosening a single bracket. The fossil has not been altered in any way to attach to the frame - it is held in by 3 brackets only. The frame may ship in a separate box from the fossil. .
