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Orthacanthus

genus

Sensitive Classification

Fossils are sensitive in nature and should not be collected unless it is done legally and responsibly. Vertebrate fossils are illegal to collect on public lands.

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On Wikipedia

Orthacanthus is an extinct genus of fresh-water xenacanthid sharks, named by Louis Agassiz in 1836, ranging from the Upper Carboniferous until the Lower Permian. Orthacanthus had a nektobenthic life habitat, with a carnivorous diet. Multiple sources have also discovered evidence of cannibalism in the diet of Orthacanthus and of "filial cannibalism" where adult Orthacanthus preyed upon juvenile Orthacanthus. The genus Orthacanthus has been synonymized with Dittodus (Owen, 1867), Didymodus (Cope, 1883), and Diplodus (Agassiz, 1843).About 260 million years ago, Orthacanthus was the apex predator of freshwater swamps and bayous in Europe and North America. Mature Orthacanthus reached nearly 3 meters (10 feet) in length. Orthacanthus teeth have a minimum of three cusps, two principal cusps,…