Product Description
Cladocyclus is a member of the ICTHYODECTIFORMS, a group of large predatory extinct fish that lived in marine environments from the Late Jurassic through the Cretaceous Period. Many had large teeth and all were effective hunters of other fish including those from their own group. Cladocyclus is one of the longest and most impressive fish from the Santana Formation. Most examples that have been on the market are horrible composites of multiple fish glued together to make a "complete" fossil. This specimen is a SINGLE ORIGINAL FISH FOSSIL, not a composite.
The size, overall detail and quality of this specimen is excellent. The mouth shows exposed original teeth. The entire fossil is complete with three dimensional fin and scale detail. The fossil has been set into a reconstituted geode for stability of the piece.
From a former 40+ year private German collection. The method of preparation for the concretionary specimens we obtained utilized procedures that produce whole, fully exposed fossils without splitting the concretions open and destroying the specimen as most others have done. With these specimens we are offering, there is no comparison to the "butchered" concretionary Brazilian fossils that are crudely split with chisels to reveal the fossil inside.
Caution must be exercised in Brazil concretion fish fossils. MANY are pieced together with parts of multiple fish to make a single fish but THIS species of fish is one of the MOST COMMONLY FAKED type because of its long length and nature of being found broken and incomplete or poorly preserved. All too often, we see examples on the market that are the tail of one fish, body of another and the head of a third, all glued together to make a single fish. Compare this one above to ones in suspect and you may see the discontinuity of the fossil's anatomy and shape, in question.