Viper Fish Predator Gluttony - Fossil Fish in Fossil Fish

Description: Eurypholis is betrayed as a predator by its wide gape and needle sharp teeth, allowing it to easily engulf smaller prey fish. The flanks carry a line of large bony scales, readily visible in the accompanying photos. This genus went extinct by the Upper Cretaceous. Hajulia is a small fish that went extinct in the Cretaceous, but is possibly related to the recent genus Pterothrissus. The Hajulia may have been too much for the Eurypholis to handle, leading to the death of the predator. This is a miniature version of my favorite fish plaque: The 4 m long Xiphactinus with a 2 m Gillicus in its stomach to be seen as the fantastic “fish-within-a-fish” at the Sternberg Museum in Hays, Kansas. The repairs do little to intrude upon the impressive nature of this specimen.