OBJECT DOSSIER · SMITHSONIAN OPEN ACCESS

Large predatory fish — Xiphactinus audax

SAGE Museum Deep Time scientific dossier

Artist / Creator

James St. John

Date / Period

Late Cretaceous — Coniacian for documented Smithsonian material · Late Cretaceous.

Object Type

skull

Medium

unknown_needs_review

About This Object

Geologic period: Late Cretaceous — Coniacian for documented Smithsonian material

Age: Late Cretaceous.

Feeding: Carnivorous.

Locomotion: Active marine swimming.

Body plan: Large streamlined fish with a powerful skull and large pointed teeth.

Evidence: Skull and teeth are direct evidence. Other famous Xiphactinus specimens preserve swallowed fish, providing rare direct dietary evidence.

Why it matters: Xiphactinus reminds visitors that dinosaurs did not dominate every ecosystem. Large predatory fishes remained major predators in Cretaceous seas.

Plain Language Identity: A huge predatory bony fish from Late Cretaceous seas.

What You Are Looking At: A fossil skull from the large predatory fish Xiphactinus audax.

Defense Or Attack: Large jaws and teeth were its prey-capture system.

Ecosystem: Late Cretaceous marine ecosystems of North America.

Preservation: Original fossil skull.

Open Questions: Do not assume every Xiphactinus individual ate the same prey.

Source Urls: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual-tour/current-exhibits/deep-time-virtual-tour-fossil-list; https://www.si.edu/object/xiphactinus-audax-leidy:nmnhpaleobiology_3423486

Enrichment Method: SAGE curated research pass; title + scientific name + source scene matched; comparative chronology retained; evidence separated from inference

Scientific name: Xiphactinus audax

Evidence / representation: comparative_taxon_visual

Why It Is In This SAGE Exhibit

comparative_taxon_visual

Cretaceous Worlds: Dinosaurs at Their Most Diverse.

Provenance

Smithsonian Deep Time source scene: Bird Origins / Cretaceous Seas 1

Visual source institution: Wikimedia Commons

Exhibition History

Included in the SAGE Museum Dinosaurs & Deep Time staging exhibit.

Collection & Credit

Media license: CC BY 2.0

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0

Subjects & Themes

Xiphactinus audax Late Cretaceous — Coniacian for documented Smithsonian material skull Bird Origins / Cretaceous Seas 1 Cretaceous Worlds

ORIGINAL COLLECTION SOURCE

This object page stays inside SAGE Museum. The Smithsonian link below is provided only as the original scholarly collection record. It opens separately.

VIEW ORIGINAL SMITHSONIAN RECORD ↗