Believed to have been one of the main food sources of the dinosaur Spinosaurus, the Sawfish is part of a genus of extinct giant sawskate that lived during the Upper Cretaceous in what is now North Africa. It’s long, hard shovel-shaped snout, called a rostrum, was lined on both sides with modified tooth structures called denticles that gave the ray a chainsaw-like appearance.

Seen here is one of the dorsal spines that would have lined the ray’s back, similar to sharks. These spines are relatively delicate so they are almost always fractured while in the ground or during collection. This specimen is preserved in good condition with few repaired cracks.