The London Clay Formation represents a unique marine geological formation which dates from the Early Eocene (Ypresian) spanning a time period 50-54 million years ago. Representing a warmer marine environment (subtropical/tropical), this formation showcases an incredibly diverse array of fossil flora and fauna that can be found perfectly preserved in 3D including sea snakes, turtles, crocodiles, birds, crabs, lobsters and sharks. One of the most diverse group of fossils found in the London Clay is that of the Ray-finned fish (Actinopterygii) of which a minimum of 80 species have already been named, but there are many more new discoveries being made every year. 

This Project:

The idea of this non-commercial project is simple – To provide a visual resource (using photos, 3D scans and Micro-CT scans) of exceptional specimens held in both Public and Private collections to help collectors and researchers better identify and compare fish specimens from the London Clay. 

The launch of this visual resource in Sept 2024 represents the first phase of this project. Most holotypes of named London Clay fish have now been photographed and surface scanned and feature through this website but there are a few missing which will be uploaded shortly. In addition, exceptional specimens found by local collectors also feature heavily on this website and more will be added in time. For each species featured, in time, I’ll be adding more commentary on key characteristics as well as highlighting some modern equivalents to make these prehistoric fish a little easier to visualise what they might have looked like. The hope is that this will be a constantly evolving resource as new specimens are found and species are named.

Acknowledgements:

There are many people that need thanking for their continued help and support with this project across both the public and private sector. Firstly, a big thanks goes to the Natural History Museum, London and particularly Emma Bernard (Curator & Collections Manager, Fossil Fish) and Dr Zerina Johanson (Merit Researcher, NHM) for providing me with the on-going access to the NHM collections including some of the most important holotypes from this formation. Secondly, I’d like to thank a number of experienced and dedicated London Clay collectors who have provided me access to their collections and have been incredibly supportive throughout this project – these include Dan Hogburn, Fred Clouter & Gary Walker who’s spectacular fossil finds feature in many of the pages in this website.  

How can you help?

New fossil fish are regularly being found in the London Clay exposures so if you’ve found something you think is pretty special, then please contact me on the details below. Also, if you already have a collection of London Clay fish and you know of exceptional examples that could feature, then please do contact me as well. 

Contact Info:

If you’d like to get in contact with me (Tom Sermon), please feel free to contact me on tom@palaeo-art.com

Copyright information:

All images and scans have been taken by Tom Sermon who retains the ownership of the copyright. Published photographs of specimens in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London have been done so under a CC-BY license. 3D and Micro-CT scans of specimens in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London have been done so under a CC-BY-NC license.