Percoid fish – Opercular bone

Percoid fish opercular bone collected from the Eocene Bracklesham Beds in Lee on Solent, Hampshire. The Percoids are a suborder of the order Perciformes; perches, snappers, basses, whitings and many more fish belong to this suborder. In bony fishes the operculum is a series of bones which function as a facial support structure. This bone measures approximately 7 mm in length and is supplied in a small plastic bag with an information label. The Bracklesham beds in which these bones were found are well known among paleontologists and fossil collectors in Britain; they have yielded over 160 different species of fish and the beds continue to be productive today despite having been pillaged by collectors for over 100 years.