Not as common as Knightia and Dilpomystus. Size ranges from 4" to more than 10" with the average being 4" - 5". Sometimes found in mass mortality layers. Call or write the Fossil Gallery for more infomation on a specimen shown, framing options, or other specimens and sizes available.
APPROXIMATE SPECIMEN SIZE: 4" to 5"
PRICE (UNFRAMED): $110 – $275 (US)
The Priscacara is a spiny-rayed member of the Lake fauna that has previously been assigned taxonomically to various families, including the perch and bass. Recent work has placed the Priscacara into its own family called Priscacaridae. Contemporary forms of the oval shaped genus occupy the upper regions of freshwater lakes and ponds, sunning themselves and feeding. We speculate that they probably were schooling fish that occupied many niches throughout the lake. The oval form and the contemporary forms’ niches have been the basis by which people refer to the fish as “sunfish." Within the fossiliferous unit can be found several mass death layers of Priscacara. The magnitude of death is not nearly as great as that of the Knightia layer, but then, Knightia are secondary consumers while Priscacara are tertiary consumers which, in an ecosystem indicates a greater number of secondary consumers. It is interesting that within the different mass death layers only one type of fish within a layer perished and was fossilized.
