Fishermen strive to catch the big one when enjoying a beautiful morning on the water. Apparently, the big catch can sometimes be a fish from millions of years ago. A Nebraska man fishing in a tournament got more than what he bargained for after casting his line into the Missouri River.
Andy Moore was fishing near Yankton, South Dakota, when he snagged a rock while casting his line. To get a better look at the rock and to get his line unstuck, he kayaked over to the boulder. “I get up to it, and I’m like, ‘Oh wow! That’s kind of cool.’ I thought it was a big catfish skeleton or a deer skeleton. Something told me to take a picture of this,” Moore said.
Caleb Roy Workman posted the photos on Facebook to the Nebraska fossil hunter group. He said: “My buddy stumbled across this in a kayak fishing tournament last week. Came back yesterday to get it with a local geologist and corp of engineers guy. Turns out he found a Xiphactinus (not sure on spelling) found on the Missouri River. It’s going to be prepped and put on display at the visitors center by Lewis and Clarke lake.”
The fisherman later contacted a biologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who confirmed that Moore’s find was once a predator fish fossil that is up to 90 million years old. The fossil is now being prepared for a display at the Lewis and Clark Visitor Center in Crofton, Nebraska.
Source: https://www.facebook.com/groups/161087660696197/permalink/2322275941244014/