8 Associated Pachyrhizodus (Monster Fish) Vertebra - Kansas

This is a 5.5" long, associated set of eight vertebra from Pachyrhizodus, a very large ray finned fish the inhabited the Inland Seaway some 80 million years ago. The vertebrae are still partially embedded in the chalk in which they were found and were collected from the Smoky Hill Chalk in Gove County, Kansas.

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.