Two Very Large Otodus Shark Teeth in Rock - Morocco

This is a 8.9" wide specimen that contains two, very large teeth of the extinct giant mackerel shark, Otodus obliquus, collected from the phosphate deposits in the Oulad Abdoun Basin of Morocco. They are Eocene in age, or approximately 54 million years old. For the most part the teeth are in excellent condition, however there is a repaired crack through each tooth. There is a partial shark vertebra that has been exposed from the sandstone as well. This piece is natural and not a composite.

The largest tooth is 3.3" long. Comes with a display stand.

Otodus is an extinct mackerel (Lamniformes) shark that lived during the Eocene, approximately 54 million years ago. This is the same family of sharks that includes the Great White and the largest shark ever known, the Megalodon. These teeth are collected during phosphate mining operations near Khouribga, Morocco. While Otodus teeth are common fossils at these mines, large, good quality specimens are hard to find since they are often destroyed by the mining equipment.

The Kem Kem Group is famous for yielding a diverse Late Cretaceous vertebrate assemblage, including fish, reptiles, and dinosaurs such as Spinosaurus. These fossils are found in a thin bed that outcrops around the edge of a large plateau near Taouz, Morocco. Local miners collect these fossils by digging narrow tunnels by hand into this plateau, following the layer.

A paper on this assemblage can be found at: Vertebrate assemblages from the early Late Cretaceous of southeastern Morocco: An overview

One of the tunnels dug into the Kem Kem beds by local miners following the productive fossil beds.