acanthodian illustration by Danielle Dufault
Amateur fossil hunters have added significantly to Palaeontology through donations of important fossils. The earliest nearly complete fossil of a fish was recently excavated in a quarry near Ft. Erie, Ontario. Dated at 425 million years old, this specimen helps fill in the picture of early vertebrates as they changed from jawless to jawed.
The amateurs had been looking for eurypterids in the Bertie Formation dolostone that had already been quarried for 100 years. Densely packed and fine-grained, this is an area of exceptional preservation. If the non-mineralized eurypterids (sea scorpions) could be preserved, then other Silurian marine animals were expected. But in all that time, no one had found a fish.
Fortunately the fossil hunters understood they had found an important specimen and contacted the experts. Now the fish is classified (Nerepisacanthus) and registered in the museum collection. Hooray for the amateurs.
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