It was not that long ago that Wayne County and the rest of western New York were located just south of the equator while basking in tropical temperatures.  A large and shallow inland sea dominated the region with high mountains to the east and a shallow continental margin to the west.  The sea was replete with life.  Invertebrates dominated the sea bottom, corals and brachiopods filtered nutrients from the seawater to survive, while trilobites, cephalopods (squid), and a host of other scavenger and predator species roamed the benthic (sea bottom) region feeding on them.  Numerous species of gastropods (snails) and bivalves (clams) were abundant also.  The seas above were dominated by large armored fish (i.e. Dunkleosteus) and a multitude of smaller fish.  It was the Devonian Period of earth’s history.  It was the age of fish.

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