These are huge examples of extinct Ceratodus teeth. A very unusual fish! A lower Cretaceous (110 million years ago). These are the finest, largest, and most complete Ceratodus teeth that I have seen!

Tooth Plates, Not Teeth

Ceratodus is a lungfish, and lungfish do not have teeth in the usual sense. They have tooth plates, fused, ridged structures set into the upper and lower jaws that crush rather than cut. A single plate served the animal for life and grew as the fish grew.

That construction is why collectors find them appealing. The ridges radiate outward in a fan, and growth is legible across the surface. Nothing else in a fossil collection looks quite like one.

Preservation varies considerably. Plates are often recovered broken along the ridges or missing the outer margin, which is why complete examples with the articulation intact command a premium. Buried Treasure Fossils lists each specimen with its size and condition stated. Collectors asking what makes fossils genuine should read those descriptions closely, since the condition language carries real meaning here.

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FAQs

What did Ceratodus eat? Hard-shelled prey, most likely. Crushing plates of this type suit mollusks, crustaceans, and tough plant material rather than fish taken in pursuit. The wear patterns on a used plate reflect that diet.

Are these related to modern lungfish? Closely. Lungfish survive today in Australia, South America, and Africa, and the Australian species retains tooth plates of similar construction. A Ceratodus plate is among the more direct links between a Cretaceous fossil and a living animal.

Why do complete plates cost more? Because most break. The ridged structure has natural lines of weakness, and plates frequently separate along them during burial or collection. A plate with its full margin and clean articulation is uncommon (rare) at any size.

Where are they found? Lower Cretaceous deposits across several continents produce them, with North African material the most commonly offered. Locality affects color and matrix rather than the structure itself.