Cretaceous Fish (Xiphactinus) Articulated Vertebrae in Situ - Kansas

This is a natural string of seven fossil fish (Xiphactinus audax) dorsal vertebrae from the Smoky Hill Chalk of Gove County, Kansas. They were found naturally associated with each other and for presentation purposes, have been left in the rock in which they were found. The rock has been wrapped in a "jacket" to ensure stability. The string of vertebrae measures 8.9" long and the entire specimen including the jacket is 14.3" by 9".

Comes with a display stand.

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. It appeared in the BBC's Sea Monsters and National Geographic's Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure, and was labelled a "Prehistoric Terror" in the Animal Planet show River Monsters.

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.

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