13.9" Xiphactinus Maxillary with Teeth - Smoky Hill Chalk, Kansas

This is a large, complete maxillary (upper jaw) of the huge, predatory fish, Xiphactinus audax. It is 13.9" long and was collected from the Smoky Hill Chalk of Gove County, Kansas. This upper jaw section would have come from a large Xiphactinus in the 15 foot range. One can imagine how terrifying of a predator this fish must have been given its huge, dagger-like teeth.

There is a repaired crack about 7.5" from the distal end of the maxillary, with some gap fill restoration at the spot of breakage. The longest tooth is 2.15" long and would have been longer if it hadn't have been found broken. This tooth has a repaired crack through the middle with some gap fill restoration. All 17 of the teeth on the jaw are from this Xiphactinus.



Xiphactinus was a huge, predatory fish that lived during the Late Cretaceous. It would have been a voracious predator, growing 15-20 feet long. When alive, the fish would have resembled a gargantuan, fanged tarpon.

Xiphactinus has appeared in the BBC's Sea Monsters and National Geographic's Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure as well as being labelled a "Prehistoric Terror" in River Monsters.