In the Western Interior Sea — an enormous waterway that when break up North America in two through the Cretaceous interval — the wrestle for survival wasn’t simply between hunters and prey, however a literal conflict of the titans.
A brand new examine, revealed within the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, revealed an embedded tooth in considered one of historical Alabama’s fiercest marine predators. By using high-tech scanning, scientists uncovered this hidden shock tucked inside a fossil that had been sitting in a museum drawer for many years. The new discover is rewriting our understanding of the traditional meals chain and proves that even the hardest ocean dwellers had very unhealthy days.
“We sometimes get these fixed ideas in our heads about who the top predator in any given environment is and who might rest a rung or two down on the food chain. This fossil is a good reminder that nature is rarely that cut and dry,” stated lead creator Stephanie Drumheller in a press release.
Read More: A 66‑Million‑Year‑Old Tyrannosaurus Tooth Embedded in an Edmontosaurus Skull Reveals a Violent Final Encounter
CT Scans Reveal Tooth in Plesiosaur Fossil
The story begins at Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History, the place a four-meter-long Polycotylus — a kind of plesiosaur — had been hiding one thing. Although researchers excavated the fossil from Alabama’s Mooreville Chalk years in the past, they didn’t discover the shock till they examined its neck vertebrae extra intently: an enormous, crushed tooth embedded immediately into the bone.
To establish the attacker with out destroying the valuable specimen, the crew turned to computed tomography (CT) scanning. Two undergraduates from the University of Tennessee just about dissected the fossil and constructed a 3D mannequin of the tooth.
This 3D mannequin revealed a shocking wrongdoer — the tooth belonged to Xiphactinus, an enormous predatory bony fish.
How Did the Tooth Get Stuck?
While Xiphactinus was the bigger of the 2 species, it probably wasn’t attempting to eat the plesiosaur. Many “fish-within-a-fish” fossils present these predators normally most popular to swallow their meals complete.
Instead, the chunk could have been the results of a combat, presumably over territory. Regardless of the motive, the placement of the chunk was catastrophic.
“Plesiosaurs are famous for their long necks, but those necks come at a price,” defined coauthor Robin O’Keefe. “The trachea, esophagus, major arteries and veins, important nerves; all of these organs lie vulnerable to attack. A bite to the neck by Xiphactinus would have certainly proved fatal to this animal, if the Polycotylus was not already dead.”
Whether it was a botched hunt or a scavenged meal, the sheer violence required to lodge a tooth right into a vertebra suggests a terrifying stage of energy.
The Importance of Alabama’s Mooreville Chalk
The Mooreville Chalk has lengthy been a goldmine for paleontologists, providing a snapshot of a dynamic ecosystem the place the whole lot was on the menu. From sharks and bony fish to the occasional dinosaur who sadly discovered itself washed out to sea, the fossils excavated right here create an image of a chaotic aquatic world the place no species was protected.
This particular discover underscores that the Western Interior Sea was a high-stakes space the place even the most important predators had been consistently wanting over their shoulders.
Read More: New Species of Carnivorous Dinosaur Discovered with Crocodile in Its Teeth
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