Fossils – Fossildon

Fossil Mosasaur Partial Jaw with Teeth and Roots

raulcreativo — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 02:39:27 +0000

This is a fossil tooth of the giant marine reptile Mosasaurus beaugei, from the Upper Cretaceous phosphate deposits in the Oulad Abdoun Basin of Morocco. The well defined, flat facets on this tooth indicated it’s from Mosasaurus beaugei and not one of the much more common Mosasaurs.

These teeth are collected as a byproduct of the massive phosphate mining operations near Khouribga. The locals collected the teeth and other fossils saving them from certain destruction by rock crusher. There are as many as 10 different species of Mosasaurs in these deposits, and determining the species of individual teeth is often difficult. A tooth morphology guide is linked below.

Fossil Mosasaur Partial Jaw with Teeth and Roots

raulcreativo — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 02:30:55 +0000

Fossil Mosasaur Partial Jaw with Teeth and Roots

raulcreativo — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 02:24:06 +0000

Fossil Mosasaur Partial Jaw with Teeth

raulcreativo — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 01:52:54 +0000

Fossil Shark Tooth in Matrix

raulcreativo — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 01:40:56 +0000

Isurus Xiphodon was a very active shark, with enormous strength and great speed. The shark could reach top speeds of more than 77 miles per hour which gives it the position of the fastest animal in the ocean. The secret of such power and speed was its perfect hydrodynamics, its powerful muscle mass, its tail fin in the shape of a crescent and the fact that it is homeothermic, which triples its muscular power, allowing it to also make sudden starts. This combination of strength and speed gives these animals the ability to jump very high out of the water.

Fossil Mosasaur Partial Jaw with Teeth and Roots

raulcreativo — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 01:33:06 +0000

Fossil Mosasaur Tooth in Partial Jaw

raulcreativo — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 18:12:14 +0000

Fossil Crinoid Plate

raulcreativo — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Crinoids are marine animals that make up the class Crinoidea, one of the classes of the phylum Echinodermata, which also includes the starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins and sea cucumbers.Those crinoids which, in their adult form, are attached to the sea bottom by a stalk are commonly called sea lilies, while the unstalked forms are called feather stars or comatulids, being members of the largest crinoid order, Comatulida.

Adult crinoids are characterised by having the mouth located on the upper surface. This is surrounded by feeding arms, and is linked to a U-shaped gut, with the anus being located on the oral disc near the mouth. Although the basic echinoderm pattern of fivefold symmetry can be recognised, in most crinoids the five arms are subdivided into ten or more. These have feathery pinnules and are spread wide to gather planktonic particles from the water.

Fossil Mosasaur Tooth

raulcreativo — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 17:52:12 +0000

Fossil Megalodon Shark Tooth

raulcreativo — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 17:45:53 +0000

Carcharocles Megalodon meaning “big tooth”, was a species of giant shark that lived at the Cenozoic age. It is characterized by being the terror of the seas and was a super predator of its time.

The ancient oceans had C. megalodon as their quintessential predator: huge from where you can see it, this animal was basically a white shark of very exaggerated size. The “megalodon” belongs to the superpredators where we can include the Mosasaurus, Pliosaurus etc, this means that it had no natural predators and was at the top of the food chain.