3.9" Fossil Fish (Ichthyodectes) Tail - Kansas

Fossil Fish (Ichthyodectes) Tail - Kansas #136434

This is a 3.9" wide tail fin of the extinct fish Ichthyodectes (meaning fish biter with comb teeth), closely related to Xiphactinus audax and the 2-meter long Gillicus arcuatus. Large ichthyodectes grew to more than 10 feet long and lived in the U.S. Western Interior Seaway during the late Cretaceous Period. This fossil was collected from the Smoky Hill Chalk in Gove County, Kansas.

It comes with an acrylic display stand.

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, pterosaurs, and turtles.