The monographic section of the museum, which has been developing since 1865, contains unique fossil specimens, based on which scientists have described new species of extinct animals and plants. The museum's collections contain more than 47 thousand fossil plants and animals.

Excursion "Ancient Fish: From Shells to Landfall"

We will tell you about the evolution of fish over 375 million years, from the Silurian to the Cretaceous period, about the ancestors of fish - the so-called bony shields, as well as about psammosteids that look like spaceships.

We will tell you about the giant Devonian plate-skinned (armored) fish found in the vicinity of St. Petersburg on the banks of the Luga and Oredezh rivers. Let's dwell on the helicopion with a dental spiral in its jaw and the mystery of its diet, sharks and rays, as well as relatives of the giant filter-feeding fish - lidsichthys (up to 16 m in length), which was hunted by the sea lizards of the Mesozoic.

In the Devonian, fish came to land, marking the beginning of the evolution of all land vertebrates, including humans. The story of this heroic and most important event will conclude the thematic excursion

In the interactive part of the excursion, you can study the ornament of the plates and scales of Silurian and Devonian fish on a microscope. And also see the structure of fossil scales and plates with skin teeth. These "teeth" are no different in internal structure from ours, humans.