13 million year old seahorse fossil found in Slovenia

The photo above shows a 2.5″ fossil of Hippocampus sarmaticus which was discovered in a streambank in Slovenia. The 13 million year old fossil is one of the oldest ever found and it was closely accompanied by a handful of tiny, inch long baby seahorses. The finds shed some light on the evolution of seahorses and their gregarious nature which is still evident in modern seahorses. The grouping of small seahorses were probably living in a seagrass bed at the time when they were all so neatly fossilized. Follow the link to see additional photos of the fossilized syngnathids.

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