Caturus Fish

Product description

This Caturas fossil fish, was discovered in the Solnhofen Plattenkalk Formation, Eichstatt, Germany. It dates from the Jurassic Period, 160 million years ago.

Caturus was a primitive fish that lived during the Jurassic Period, but became extinct in the Lower Cretaceous Period. It was a medium sized, streamlined fish, similar to modern salmon
Caturus was a fast swimming predator and had powerful jaws, with many sharp teeth (see photo). Caturus was unique in that its vertebral column was only partially ossified, which is why it is normally discovered with very little detail, as cartilage does not fossilise well.

It is amazing to think that some of the largest dinosaurs that ever walked the earth were in existence, when Caturus swam in the ancient Jurassic seas.

Solnhofen, where this Caturus was discovered, is near Munich, and is one of the world's most famous fossil sites. In the Upper Jurassic, a lagoon, linked to the sea covered the area, and the fossils were preserved in a fine sediment. The fine grain of the rock means that even the minutest details are preserved. Not only fish and marine creatures are preserved here, but also land animals that died and were washed into the lagoon. The finest grade fossils are few and far between and a great deal of rock has to be split to locate them. Although most quarries were worked by hand in the past, these days most quarry owners use machinery to dig the rock, often destroying the precious fossils within.
This means fewer and fewer top quality fossils are being discovered, thus raising the value of those that are.
 The most famous fossil of all, the prehistoric bird, Archaeopterix, was discovered in this formation.

The quality of this Caturus is outstanding, beautifully presented in a light coloured matrix, and a collector of Solnhofen material would be hard pressed to find better.

FISH SIZE: 14" in length (approx 35 cm) SHIPS FROM OUR UK OFFICE FULLY TRACKED