Museum Holosteus mariae Fish Fossil

Description: For over eight years I have been acquiring Polish fish from the Oligocene, Carpathian basin. Generally they are small, no more than a few inches in length. This magnificent Holosteus is by far the largest, and most breathtaking specimen I have had the pleasure of beholding. The fossil resides on a thin, fine-grained medium/dark tan plate of shale. The formation is highly fractured and difficult to quarry, and the image below shows the recovered fossils, before professional preparation -- very typical of the site. The preservation is fantastic and the specimen is some 97% complete. This to the best of my knowledge is the premier fossil fish specimen ever offered from this important world-renowned fossil site.

White River Preparium, one of the premier preparation labs in the USA, invested over sixteen hours of work to prepare this specimen. The Holesteus was broken into fifteen pieces (as shown below) and re-glued back together. The site is such extraction of large pieces is impossible, and shale is fratured in any case. The surrounding matrix was smoothed out, and the cracks skillfully covered. There is some 3% restoration. Specifically the tip of the snout/ethmoid (nasal) area, and a 3/8 x 5/8” oblong shaped insertion on the top-side of the body immediately in front of the dorsal fin. Finally, a bit of restoration where the head joins the body. The specimen has been strengthened with a fiberboard backing plate. Please contact me if you have any further questions. I include the before picture to provide educational insight regarding the fine work that expert preparators do.

Holosteus is allied with the extinct Order Alepisauriformes of ray-finned fishes closely related to extant Order Aulopiformes that are often called lizardfishes. See images of extant genus Bathysaurus of Order Aulopiformes on right side as exaples of the general morphology.

The Carpathians offer one of the world’s premier collecting sites for Oligocene salt-water fossil fish. I have a scholarly pdf (in English)) on the general paleontology and fossil fish of the Menilite-Krosno Series that I would be happy to email to the procurer of this Holosteus.