Fishy encounter (of the prehistoric kind)

[Paleo & Fish Collector]

Hey Boki I'm interested in your Devonian Yowies (Fish) I am wondering if you are up to sell them it's ok if you don't want to part from them I just love Cambrian and Devonian Fuana of all prehistoric geological eras.

HI and thanks for your interest. Unfortunately I am not parting with this guys. It took me a while to acquire them, and they are not easy to come by. Keep searching ebay, once in a while they do show up.

Ok,thanks! I just acquired some PV fish and a cliamatus.

[Paleo & Fish Collector]

As far as have with prehistoric fish is the Kaiyodo Pteraspis,the Rahz00 Hyneria,and Tauraspis,and the primitive sharks toob and the pink and yellow variation of Climatius.

[Paleo & Fish Collector]

If anyone has a US Toy Climatius they are not interested in,please hit me up because I am highly interested!

[Bokisaurus]

Kaiyodo Aquatales 1st series Coelacanth polyresin figure, a beautiful model.
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[Hynerpeton]

Nice Celocanth

[laticauda]

The problem with fish and the toy market is a simple one.  If you market to kids, what do kids want and where will they play with them.  That means they tend to make them for the water, or they focus only on predatory fish or the Coelacanth.  (Yes I know Coelacanth is a piscivore which makes it a predator too.)  For education and adult collectors, they really don't focus on it because it isn't the most profitable.  I mean how often do you see toys or toobs of Panfish, bass, perch, and bluegills.   Its a shame, but its the cost of business.   

Also that Kaiyodo Aquatales Coelacanth is beautiful.

[SBell]

The problem with fish and the toy market is a simple one.  If you market to kids, what do kids want and where will they play with them.  That means they tend to make them for the water, or they focus only on predatory fish or the Coelacanth.  (Yes I know Coelacanth is a piscivore which makes it a predator too.)  For education and adult collectors, they really don't focus on it because it isn't the most profitable.  I mean how often do you see toys or toobs of Panfish, bass, perch, and bluegills.   Its a shame, but its the cost of business.   

Also that Kaiyodo Aquatales Coelacanth is beautiful.

I have lots of fish of a wide variety. Most of them are Japanese.

And really, it's just like dino collecting--most of them are made as toys for kids. It's just that some of us put them on shelves and argue about them instead.

[laticauda]

The problem with fish and the toy market is a simple one.  If you market to kids, what do kids want and where will they play with them.  That means they tend to make them for the water, or they focus only on predatory fish or the Coelacanth.  (Yes I know Coelacanth is a piscivore which makes it a predator too.)  For education and adult collectors, they really don't focus on it because it isn't the most profitable.  I mean how often do you see toys or toobs of Panfish, bass, perch, and bluegills.   Its a shame, but its the cost of business.   

Also that Kaiyodo Aquatales Coelacanth is beautiful.

I have lots of fish of a wide variety. Most of them are Japanese.

And really, it's just like dino collecting--most of them are made as toys for kids. It's just that some of us put them on shelves and argue about them instead.

The Japenese toy makers do tend to make  a lot of fish, in fact they do wide variety of animals.  I wonder why they are more diverse with the animal species?

[Ultimatedinoking]

Sign, I wish I had more early fish. 

[SBell]

Sign, I wish I had more early fish. 

Me too--and I already have so many!

[Ultimatedinoking]

Sign, I wish I had more early fish. 

Me too--and I already have so many!

I don't have any 

[Hynerpeton]

So do i. Luv the early fish.

[Bokisaurus]

The mighty Dunkleosteus from Favorite Prehistoric Life ( soft model) series
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[SBell]

That one is definitely on my list--I also think I need the big soft play one as well, because a Dunk that big would be fantastic!

[Ultimatedinoking]

They took my idea, I drew a blue and grey dunk once!

[Halichoeres]

I turned up a new coelacanth recently. It even has all its fins.


It looks suspiciously like Latimeria, even though Latimeria has no fossil record. The first dorsal fin is correctly non-lobed!


It came with this Pteranodon by Takara Tomy. The Pteranodon is about 1:40 scale, so not a terribly large coelacanth.


And by "not terribly large," I mean, "literally the smallest animal in my collection that isn't fixed in somebody else's jaws."

Still, pretty well done, especially for its size! The only coelacanth I could find with reasonably close affinities to Latimeria, with fossil remains from the Santonian of North America (i.e., same place and time as Pteranodon), was Megalocoelacanthus (see Dutel et al. 2012, PLoS One 7: e49911). It reached a length of 3.5m, so this would have to be a young one. Anybody know any other genus it could be?

[SBell]

That's a cool little coelacanth.Too bad they always use Latimeria instead of an appropriate one.

And since I did this at the Animal Toy Forum...after a request at the STS forum for pictures of all of my arowanas..which went too far!

All of the 'primtive' Osteichthyans I have. I haven't done the chondrichthyans, placoderms, acanthodiians or agnathans yet.

CLADISTIA
Bichirs:


L-R: Kaiyodo ChocoPets albino bichir, Recent Colorata 'Fossil Fishes' box, Kaiyodo normal color Chocopets bichir

CHONDROSTEI
Sturgeon:




L-R: Original Colorata 'Fossil Fishes' box Chinese Sturgeon; Kaiyodo Capsule Aquarium White Sturgeon; Replica Toy Fish 3" Lake Sturgeon; Replica Toy Fish 6" Shovelnose Sturgeon; Epoch 'Shark & Ray Series' Beluga Sturgeon; 3d-printed Green sturgeon; Recent Colorata 'Fossil Fishes' box Chinese Sturgeon

Paddlefish:


Upper L-R: 3D printed model; Whittier Decoys wooden carving; Tchibo bath toy(!)

HOLOSTEI
Gars:
First, the larger genus, Atractosteus. The diver is to scale with the larger models (using modern sizes—historically, much larger individuals were recorded)


Back row L-R: Wooden carved alligator gar model; 3D printed Tropical Gar; Recent Colorata 'Fossil Fishes' box Alligator gar
Front row L-R: Replica Toy Fish 3" juvenile alligator gar; Replica Toy Fish 3" Adult alligator gar; Replica Toy Fish 6" alligator gar


The next ones are a variety of Lepisosteus species, again, roughly to scale with the diver.


Back L-R: Wooden carved Shortnose gar, Wooden Carved Longnose gar
Front L-R: Replica Toy Fish 6" Longnose gar, Replica Toy Fish 3" longnose gar; Toba Aquarium Series 2 'living fossils' spotted gar

Plus, I have a few fossil ones!


A Paleocene gar (I received this as a spare when a designer was building a Paleocene display in a museum I managed). Suffice to say, this isn't one that can be bought just anywhere!


And, unlike today, gars used to be found outside of North and Central America. And Favorite captured that in their Hunting Spinosaurus desktop model:
The explorer is to scale assuming that the spinosaur is 'only' about 15 m long. The gar species is likely Dentilepisosteus kemkenensis given the size, place and time—Cretaceous Africa.

Bowfin:

Clearly not to scale with the diver:


It is another Whittier Decoys wooden carving. It would be a medium sized specimen if it were alive.

OSTEOGLOSSOMORPHA
The Bonytongues!

The only one that I don't have at least one representative of is the butterflyfish. For now...

Pirarucu:


L-R, starting at the top: Recent Colorata 'Fossil Fishes' box Arapaima, Toba Aquarium Arapaima, Takara 'Amazon River set' Arapaima, Original Colorata 'Fossil Fishes' box Arapaima, Epoch 'Living Fossil Collection' Arapaima, Kaiyodo Capsule Aquarium Arapaima

Arowanas:


L-R,  (all Asian Arowana Scleropages formosus unless otherwise stated, but I will give the color as best as I can tell): Colorata 'Fossil Fishes' box 2nd release Super Red; Marmit 'World of Tropical Fish' Yellow Tail; Yowies Spotted Saratoga Scleropages leichadrti; Yujin "Freshwater Fishes series' Red Crossback; Kaiyodo Aqualand Silver Arowana Osteoglossum bicirrhosum; Colorata 'Fossil Fishes' box 3rd release Malayan Blue; Yujin 'Freshwater Fishes series' Gold Highback; Kaiyodo Capsule Aquarium Super Red; Colorata 'Fossil Fishes' box 1st release green crossback; Toba Aquarium Series 2 'living fossils' (the color doesn't look like an obvious existing color variety).

Other osteoglossomorphs:


L-R: 3D printed Clown Knifefish Chitala ornatus NOTOPTERIDAE; 3D printed Double-Nose Elephant Fish Campylomormyrus rhynchophorus MORMYRIDAE.

Extinct osteoglossomorphs (?), from the Cretaceous!

Ichthyodectids


L-R: FaunaCasts Xiphactinus; Bandai 'Hungry Dinos' Cladocyclus (it is part of a diorama model, being eaten by a Pteranodon—the scale of the Pteranodon helped me determine what species this should be, as it was clearly an ichtyodectid!). The small one is to scale with the divers; the large one would be a modest-sized specimen!

DIPNOMORPHA:
Lungfishes


R-L: Original Colorata 'Fossil Fishes' box Australian lungfish; Epoch 'Living Fossil Collection' Australian lungfish; Toba Aquarium Series 2 'living fossils' Australian lungfish; Yowies Australian lungfish; Recent Colorata 'Fossil Fishes' box Australian lungfish (yes, they are all Australian lungfish...maybe that will change soon?)

ACTINISTIA
Coelacanths:

Small Latimeria chalumnae figures


L-R: Kaiyodo 'Deep Sea Odyssey' Coelacanth'; Kaiyodo 'CapsuleQ Deep Se Life' Coelacanth; 'Okinama Aquarium' Coelacanth; Colorata mini Coelacanth; Takara 'Deep Sea Fishes' Coelacanth

Large Coelacanth Latimeria chalumnae figures


L-R: Epoch 'Living Fossil Collection'; Original Colorata 'Fossil Fishes' box Coelacanth; Safari 'Cryptozoology toob' Coelacanth (a toob I would otherwise not have bought); Safari WS Dinos Coelacanth; Recent Colorata 'Fossil Fishes' box Coelacanth

A small plush Coelacanth from Colorata:


Indonesian Coelacanth Latimeria menadoensis


Colorata Museum Model Series Indonesian Coelacanth

Fossil coelacanths

Axelrodicthys and Holophagus


L-R: Kaiyodo Dinotales S1 Axelrodicthys; Original Famemaster Holophagus (was being eaten by an elasmosaur—hence no pelvic fins); Kaiyodo Dinotales S1v2 Axelrodicthys (with refreshing colour scheme); Re-release Famemaster Holophagus

Mawsonia

To scale (1:100) with the people (yes, it was huge)—and the spinosaur eating it (what is it with Spinosaurus eating all the cool fish? Also, where is the Bawitius version?)


Takara Tomy ARTS 2011 Dinosaur Expo series Mawsonia

Close up:


OTHER EXTINCT LOBE-FINS

Rhizodonts


To scale with 1:40 man. Yowies Lost Kingdoms 'Duckabrook Rhizodont', probably Strepsodus

Osteolepiforms & basal Stegocephalian


To scale with 1:24 swimmer.
L-R: Kaiyodo Dinotales S6-A Eusthenopteron; Kaiyodo Dinotales S6-B Eusthenopteron; Starlux Eusthenopteron; Shapeways 3D-printed Hyneria; Shapeways 3D-printed Tiktaalik. And, of course, Kaiyodo has re-released a Eusthenopteron since this--but I'm still waiting on it.

And, couple of forthcoming ones to be sold through my store (should be available in November, when I am back from holidays):
First, Polypterus senegalus (the first 'upper jaw' bichir figure? Probably*)!


Second, Protopterus annectens (the first African lungfish figure? Probably*)!


There will also be a Pantodon buchholzi (the last osteoglossomorph family! And the first figure of this fish as well. Probably.*) but I don't yet have a photo of a completed one yet.

*_{I would be very happy to be proven wrong on any of these}

[Bucklander]

Man, that's a really cool collection. I'm quite envious. And I love the divers. May I ask, where did you get them? And did you have to paint them yourself?

[SBell]

Mais Kevin, that's a really cool collection. I'm quite envious. And I love the divers. May I ask, where did you get them? And did you have to paint them yourself?

It's always been my favorite group of animals, so I try to get everything I can. Except Asian arowana, arapaima and coelacanths because there are so many.

As for the divers, they are all Safari figures of different sizes. The biggest is Kevin,  a diver from the Incredible Creatures line. The guy in the shorts is Freddie the Free Diver from the now-discontinued Reef Box set. The 2 smallest divers are toob figures, one from the reef toob and one from the whales&dolphins toob. And they are all pre-painted.

[Bucklander]

Thanks. I'll check them out. And is Kevin named by Safari, or is that your own name for him?

I really, really wish Safari would make a toob of ancient fish (Arandaspis, Pteraspis, Cephalaspis, Dunkleosteus, Xiphactinus, Leedsichthys, Paderichthys, Eusthenopteron and Hyneria - apologies for any mis-spelt names) and any number of evolution toobs (Tetrapods (say from Pikaia to Diadectes or maybe Hylonomus, via Haikouichthys, Mylokunmyngia (sic), Eusthenopteron (again) Tiktaalik,  Ichthyostega, and Acanthostega,) Mammalia, Horses etc.

Sorry for the digression.