Outcrop at Solnhofen of the Plattenkalk. Note the very thin bedding laid down in a quite lagoon surrounded by reefs, This platy, very fine-grained limestone was, and still used used for roofing tiles and especially for the making of lithographic plates. Nearly perfectly preserved small teleost fish from Solnhofen, Bavaria.
Fish is only two inches long.
This preservation is typical of what occurs in bodies of water, such as the lagoons of Solnhofen, that lack oxyen at the bottom. The lack of oxygen and the lack of currents excluded scavangers and disruptive physical conditions resulting in superb preservation. Unfortunately, it is very rare for a terrestrial organism to find its way into this sort of an environment. Saurischia Coelurosauria Compsognathus longipes is a small theropod, coelurosaurian dinosaur from Solnhofen. There are no signs of scale or feather impressions.