June 21st, 2019 : fossil fish

[xoxoxoBruce]

Down in the meadow in a little bitty pool
Swam three little fishies and 256 siblings too.
"Swim" said the mama fishie, "Swim if you can"
And they swam and they swam all over the...

... Damn!

The fossil captures a mass of 259 fish apparently swimming in the same direction. It’s unclear what killed the fish. But a suddenly collapsing sand dune, for example, could have buried them in place in a flash, knocking just a few askew in the process, the researchers suggest.

Analysis of the fish's positions and orientations suggests they followed the same rules of “attraction” and “repulsion” that govern fish shoals today: The fish are repelled from their nearest neighbors to avoid collisions, but stick with the group by tracking with farther away fishes.

They were found in a museum in Japan, but came from the Wyoming/Idaho area.
Hard to believe someone took those slabs to Japan if they hadn't noticed the fish.
So I guess it's really a rediscovery.

link