7" Ichthyodectes (Monster Fish) Skull Section - Kansas

This is a 7" long skull section from Ichthyodectes (meaning fish biter with comb teeth), closely related to Xiphactinus audax and the 2-meter long Gillicus arcuatus. Large ichthyodectids grew to more than 10 feet long lived in the U.S. Western Interior Seaway during the late Cretaceous Period. It's been prepped free from the chalk matrix that surrounded it. It comes with an acrylic display stand.

Ichthyodectes anaides, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
Ichthyodectes anaides, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.


The Smoky Hill Chalk Member of the Niobrara Chalk formation is a Cretaceous conservation Lagerstätte, or fossil rich geological formation, known primarily for its exceptionally well-preserved marine reptiles. It outcrops in parts of northwest Kansas, its most famous localities for fossils, and in southeastern Nebraska. Large well-known fossils excavated from the Smoky Hill Chalk include marine reptiles such as plesiosaurs, large bony fish such as Xiphactinus, mosasaurs, flying reptiles or pterosaurs (namely Pteranodon), flightless marine birds such as Hesperornis, and turtles. Many of the most well-known specimens of the marine reptiles were collected by dinosaur hunter Charles H. Sternberg and his son George.
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DETAILS
SPECIES
Ichthyodectes
LOCATION
Gove County, Kansas
FORMATION
Niobrara Formation
SIZE
7" long
CATEGORY
SUB CATEGORY
ITEM
#93757
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