06178 - Great 0.89 Inch Black Squalicorax pristodontus (Crow Shark) Tooth in Natural Matrix

Precious tooth of Squalicorax pristodontus (Crow Shark) from the phosphate deposits of the Ouled Abdoun Basin (Morocco). It preserves its lateral serrations very well defined. The color of the enamel is really nice, with black tones. It does not have any type of restoration or repair. It is preserved in its natural matrix. It is a special piece because this black color of phosphates is not typical. Some small levels appeared with this lithology, and with this color so black, but very scarce.

The Ouled Abdoun Basin (or Khouribga Basin), located in the central sector of Morocco, is an enormous sedimentarian basin represented mostly by a vast filling of phosphate sediments. Apart from having a relevant raw material to be extracted, it has a series of very important paleontological sites in which amazing assemblages from big and small marine vertebrates are present. The basin has a so great continuity in its stratigraphic record that both the Upper Cretaceous as well as the two first epochs of the Paleogene (Paleocene and Eocene) can be studied.

The main assemblage of vertebrate fossils of the Paleogene sector present there is composed by sharks, fish, turtles, marine snakes, rays, crocodiles, other types of reptiles and even marine birds. In the Cretaceous part we can add Mosasaurs, Pterosaurs and Plesiosaurs.

Next you can visit a link with very interesting information about this sedimentarian basin rich in fossil vertebrates: Ouled Abdoun Basin