Pachyrhizodus (Agassiz)
 

 Age  Cretaceous - Occurrence  Uncommon

  The fossilized remains of Pachyrhizodus in the NJ area are limited for the most part to isolated teeth (sections of the heavy jaw turn up on occasion). The semi-conical teeth are stout with two weak cutting edges. The depression at the base of the tooth is deep and circular in shape. Most of the teeth I’ve seen have a slight flattening on one side at the base which is easiest to spot when viewing the tooth from the bottom. There’s a tendency for the enamel to be heavily eroded.  

Pachyrhizodus sp.

Monmouth County, NJ
 

Average size for Pachyrhizodus teeth is about 1 centimeter in height.
Very common for most of the enamel  to be gone. 
Monmouth County, NJ
 

Identification can sometimes be difficult especially when the specimen is damaged
or worn. Earl Manning made the identifications on this group of teeth.
First two on the left are Pachyrhizodus, unidentified (possibly boney fish) and the last one
on the right is a mosasaur pterygoid tooth.   

Typical finds for our area.

Fragmentary fossils of Pachyrhizodus were misinterpreted as the oldest mosasaur remains
 known from North America before these specimens were correctly identified more than half a century later.

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