{"product_id":"heteropetalus-elegantulus-montana-001","title":"Heteropetalus elegantulus-Montana 001","description":"\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTaxa:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHeteropetalus\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eelegantulus\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGeology:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e Heath formation-Bear Gulch \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAge:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e Mississippian-Carboniferous\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLocality:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e Fergus County, Montana\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e No repairs or restorations.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e \u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHeteropetalus\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eelegantulus\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHeteropetalus\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eelegantulus\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e was an unusual, soft-bodied petalodont shark from the Mississippian Bear Gulch Limestone of Montana, known from exceptionally preserved fossils that show not just teeth but parts of its soft anatomy. It had a compact, streamlined body with a long, narrow snout, prominent tooth whorls, and features suggesting a specialized feeding style, while its preserved gill region includes an operculum-like cover uncommon in many sharks. Because of the quality of preservation, it is often described as one of the more enigmatic Paleozoic cartilaginous fishes, combining shark-like traits with anatomy that makes it stand out from more typical fossil sharks.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e \u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBear Gulch Limestone\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003eThe Bear Gulch Limestone is a Late Mississippian limestone lens in central Montana, about 324 million years old, famous as a **lagerstätte** because it preserves marine life in exceptional detail. It formed in a shallow tropical bay in the Central Montana Trough and consists of fine-grained, laminated carbonate sediments deposited in short pulses, likely driven by seasonal storms and density flows that rapidly buried organisms in low-oxygen mud. As a result, it preserves a diverse Carboniferous ecosystem with fishes, invertebrates, algae, and even soft-tissue details such as gut contents and delicate body outlines, making it one of the most important fossil sites for studying Paleozoic marine life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Minute Man Fossils","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46494771511433,"sku":null,"price":4500.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0586\/1022\/1193\/files\/20260506-181829.jpg?v=1778109610","url":"https:\/\/www.minutemantradingpost.com\/products\/heteropetalus-elegantulus-montana-001","provider":"Minute Man Fossils","version":"1.0","type":"link"}