Location: Niobrara Formation, Gove County, Kansas
Weight: 0.3 Ounces
Dimensions: 1.4 Inches Long, 0.8 Inches Wide, 0.5 Inches Thick
Late Cretaceous, 83 million years old
The item pictured is the one you will receive.
This is a real fossil
Xiphactinus Audex was one of the largest bony fish of the Late Cretaceous and is considered one of the fiercest creatures in the sea. A powerful tail and winglike pectoral fins shot the 17-foot-long (5-meter-long) monster through the surface waters of the ocean. Unlucky fish and unsuspecting seabirds were snared inside Xiphactinus's upturned jaw, which was lined with giant, fanglike teeth, giving it an expression akin to that of a bulldog.
A 13-foot-long (4-meter-long) Xiphactinus could open its jaw wide enough to swallow six-foot-long (two-meter-long) fish whole, but it itself was occasionally prey to the shark Cretoxyrhina.
Xiphactinus Audex trolled an ancient ocean called the Western Interior Seaway, which covered much of central North America during the Cretaceous. Though long extinct, if alive today the bony fish would look like a giant, fanged tarpon.
