Xiphactinus - Facts and Figures

Xiphactinus - Facts and Figures Name: Xiphactinus (mix Latin and Greek for blade beam); articulated zih-FACK-tih-nuss Living space: Shallow waters of North America, western Europe and Australia Authentic Period: Late Cretaceous (90-65 million years back) Size and Weight: Around 20 feet in length and 500-1,000 pounds Diet: Fish Recognizing Characteristics: Enormous size; thin body; unmistakable teeth with particular underbite  About Xiphactinus At 20 feet in length and up to a large portion of a ton, Xiphactinus was the biggest hard fish of the Cretaceous time frame, yet it was a long way from the top predator of its North American ecosystemas we can tell from the way that examples of the ancient sharks Squalicorax and Cretoxyrhina have been found containing Xiphactinus remains. It was a fish-eat-fish world back in the Mesozoic Era, however, so you shouldnt be amazed to discover that various Xiphactinus fossils have been found containing the incompletely processed survives from littler fish. (Finding a fish inside a fish inside a shark would be a genuine fossil trifecta!) One of the most renowned Xiphactinus fossils contains the nearly unblemished survives from a dark, 10-foot-long Cretaceous fish called Gillicus. Scientistss estimate that the Xiphactinus kicked the bucket directly subsequent to gulping the fish, conceivably on the grounds that its despite everything living prey figured out how to cut its stomach in a frantic endeavor at escape, similar to the horrible extraterrestrial in the film Alien. In the event that this is truly what occurred, Xiphactinus would be the primary fish known to have kicked the bucket from intense heartburn! An odd aspect regarding Xiphactinus is that its fossils have been found in pretty much the last spot youd anticipate, the landlocked province of Kansas. Truth be told, during the late Cretaceous time frame, a significant part of the American midwest was lowered under a shallow waterway, the Western Interior Sea. Thus, Kansas has been a rich fossil wellspring of a wide range of marine creatures from the Mesozoic Era, mammoth fish like Xiphactinus, yet different marine reptiles too, including plesiosaurs, pliosaurs, ichthyosaurs and mosasaurs.