Anoxypristis mucrodens (1) Fossil Tooth Rostrum Sawfish Shark Dogfishes Cartilaginous Fishes Chondrichthyes Selachians Elasmobranchs Pristidae

Description

Origin : Morocco (Khouribga)

Geological era : Late Eocene (Priabonian)

Age : 35 million of years

Size : mm 25 x 11 x 4

Anoxypristis mucrodens cm 2.5 Fossil Tooth Rostrum of Sawfish Shark Dogfishes Cartilaginous Fishes Chondrichthyes Selachians Elasmobranchs Pristidae, only a piece, as in the photos.
Measures: mm 25 x 11 x 14.
A rather rare Fossil find of Placoid Scale or Rostral Tooth of excellent quality, in terms of color and condition.

Anoxypristis mucrodens is a large extinct Shark, lived during the late Eocene (Priabonian), 35 million years ago. It belongs to the class Chondrichthyes, family Pristidae. Pristidae is a family of cartilaginous fish Pristiformes order, commonly known as sawfish.
The most distinctive characteristic is certainly the rostrum, an extension cephalic long and resistant muzzle blade shaped, bordered on both sides by placoid scales are 5 cm long tooth-like, and that can reach over a quarter of the total length of the specimen. As the sawfish current, probably it spent most of the day immersed in lethargy in the silt. At night it used its beak to dig out the buried prey, raking sediment. In case of threat the rostrum was also used as a weapon of defense. A recent study has also highlighted that the rostrum are pore acts to intercept electric fields of prey. Its ecological habits then frame it as a nektonic carnivore, who lived the darkest depths of the warm shallow seas of the Cretaceous, about 100 million years ago. The body of Pristidae is flattened on the belly, shark-with two triangular dorsal fins, pectoral extended, similar to the wings and tail of the races consists of two lobes, with the top one more elongated. The anal fin is absent. The gill openings are on the flat side, ventral. The size of sawfish are considerable.
The distribution of the fossil record of Anoxypristis mucrodens, along with those of allied species Pristis lathami are quite rare, found mostly in continental deposits of phosphate Ouled Abdounnella, in the region of Dakhla in Western Sahara, Morocco (Africa).