Villagers have discovered a batch of fossilized fish aged over 20 million years at Bozi Village in Shandong Province, east China, when digging a well at the field about five kilometers away from the seashore.

The fossilized fish, six to eight centimeters long and 1.5 centimeters wide, were mixed with carbonized algae and embedded in the rock layers about 40 to 60 meters underground, said archaeologists from the Penglai City of the province.

The fossilized fish, brown or black, look fleshy and lifelike and it is easy to tell the fish's head, ribs, spine and tailfin.

Archaeologists judged that the fish fossils were formed in the Tertiary Period of the Cenozoic Era, dating back 18 to 23 million years.

The discovery of the fossilized fish has provided valuable materials for studying the changes of landforms, relief and climate in the Shandong Peninsula.
 
(Xinhua News Agency March 31, 2004)