UW3089 - Saurodon pygmaeus, Skull

Description

* Period/Epoch: Cretaceous / Late Cretaceous * Rock Formation: Pierre Shale * State, County: Unknown Taxonomy: Osteichthyes>Ichthyodectiformes>Saurodontidae>Saurodon pygmaeus Saurodon pygmaeus was a species of predatory fish from the Late Cretaceous of North America, when much of the continent was covered by the Western Interior Seaway. This ray-finned fish reached lengths between two and three meters at adult size, and is unique in its protruding lower jaw that sticks out further than the upper jaw does. While all of its closer relatives are extinct, it shares a more distant relationship to the arapaima, a large bony fish from South America. This specimen shows the skull of the animal. Scanned with the David SLS-2