#cretac

It’s Fossil Friday! Let’s swim back in time about 85 million years to the Late Cretaceous Period to meet Xiphactinus, a gigantic predatory fish. This species could reach lengths of 17 ft (5.2 m) and was capable of swallowing a 6-ft- (2-m-) long fish whole!

The Museum’s Xiphactinus fossils come from Logan County, Kansas, which is home to 70-ft- (21.3 m-) tall sedimentary formations. Though that might not sound like an ideal home for an ocean-dweller, the entire area was covered by a vast inland sea during the Cretaceous.