A Dead Scientist's Notebooks Cracked a 55-Million-Year Fossil Case

A 1.2m fossil fish found in 1999 stayed scientifically incomplete for ~25 years for one reason: missing location notes.

The collector died before recording full details; his family donated his field notebooks to Otago in early 2025.

Those notebooks supplied the exact site data needed to finish the study and name the species.

The fish, Ikawaihere koehleri, is a 55-million-year-old tarpon relative preserved in stunning 3D inside volcanic rock.

It's the first known Paleogene apex pursuit-predator bony fish from New Zealand.