Stratum.black
Leptolepides sprattiformis — Leptolepides sprattiformis
Leptolepides sprattiformis — Mstahl, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (US)

Fish

Leptolepides sprattiformis

Small Solnhofen fish

Leptolepides sprattiformis is the small herring-like fish that occurs in mass-mortality schools in the Solnhofen and Eichstätt Plattenkalk, sold cheaply as single fish or by the slab. The fish are preserved as dark bone on cream limestone; 'improved' examples show painted fins under UV. Many older labels read Leptolepis.

PhylumChordata
ClassActinopterygii
OrderLeptolepiformes
FamilyLeptolepidae
GroupFish
Rank (PBDB)genus· Paleobiology Database
AuthorNybelin 1974· Paleobiology Database
Classification (PBDB)Chordata › Osteichthyes › NO_ORDER_SPECIFIED › Orthogonikleithridae· Paleobiology Database
Range (PBDB)152–137 Ma· Paleobiology Database
PBDB occurrences8· Paleobiology Database

Photographs

Leptolepides sprattiformis — Leptolepis sprattiformis Agassiz
Leptolepis sprattiformis Agassiz — Smithsonian Institution (NMNHPALEO), Smithsonian Open Access, CC0
Leptolepides sprattiformis — Leptolepides sprattiformis (Blainville, 1818) (NHMUK PV P 7587 a)
Leptolepides sprattiformis (Blainville, 1818) (NHMUK PV P 7587 a) — © The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London, Natural History Museum (London) Data Portal, CC BY 4.0

Age

Formations

Elsewhere

Cite this article

Stratum Study. "Leptolepides sprattiformis" (Taxon). Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-19. https://stratum.black/study/taxa/leptolepides-sprattiformis. Accessed 2026-09-20.

BibTeX · CSL-JSON

@misc{stratum-leptolepides-sprattiformis,
  title        = {Leptolepides sprattiformis},
  author       = {{Stratum Study}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/study/taxa/leptolepides-sprattiformis}},
  year         = {2026},
  note         = {Taxon article, Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-19; sources: stratum, pbdb, wikidata, commons, smithsonian, nhm. Accessed 2026-09-20.}
}

Citations carry the pack version and the article's as-of date so they resolve to the same text later. The facts themselves belong to the sources listed below; cite those for the science.