Mosasaur (Eremiasaurus) Jaw Section - No Restoration

This is an awe inspiring fossil, a jaw section (yes, a real one) from one of the most fearsome predators to ever inhabit our oceans, the Mosasaur. It comes from the Upper Cretaceous, phosphate deposits in the Oulad Abdoun Basin of Morocco. The jaw section is 7.2 inches long. There are many different types of Mosasaurs in these deposits but this one should be Eremiasaurus heterodontus (LeBlanc, A.R.H., Caldwell, M.W. and Bardet, N. 2012).

What makes this jaw section so special is it's 100% natural, there is no restoration or compositing and the teeth have not been remounted. We did a lot of the preparation work ourselves, and beyond removing matrix the only thing done was some stabilization of the matrix. The jaw section is brought out in good relief from the matrix and it sits well on a display stand.

You will see hundreds of purported Mosasaurus jaws and jaw sections available at rock shops, shows and online, but nearly 100% of them are fakes. They are crudely constructed using plaster or modern animal bones with real Mosasaurus teeth mounted in them. Real Mosasaur jaws with teeth still in place are fairly rare.