A scene of the estuaries of Pleistocene era California depicting a scavenging short-faced bear, Arctodus simus, feeding off a spawned-out female Oncorhynchus rastrosus, the "saber-toothed" salmon, with an entourage of ancestral California gulls, Larus californicus. In the water, a pair of speculative ocean-phase Oncorhynchus enters the estuary looking for food, while a pair of spawning males jockey for status and position, ready to meet their fate upstream.

Produced for the upcoming textbook by Dr. Darren Naish of University of Portsmouth, England tentatively titled "The Vertebrate Fossil Record". Want to see more art and sketches? Subscribe to my Patreon page and get sneak peeks at my works in progress, including early access to finished paintings and more!