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[[File:Xiphactinus audax.png |thumb|left|''Xiphactinus audax'' restoration]]
[[File:Xiphactinus audax Sternberg Museum.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Gillicus arcuatus]]'' within the stomach of ''Xiphactinus audax'', [[George F. Sternberg]]'s most famous fossil find.]]
Species of ''Xiphactinus'' were voracious predatory fish. At least a dozen specimens of ''X. audax'' have been collected with the remains of large, undigested or partially digested prey in their stomachs. In particular, one {{convert|4.2|m|ft|1}} fossil "'''Fish-Within-A-Fish'''" specimen was collected by [[George F. Sternberg]] with another, nearly perfectly preserved {{convert|1.9|m|ft}} long ichthyodectid ''[[Gillicus arcuatus]]'' inside of it. The larger fish apparently died soon after eating its prey, most likely owing to the smaller prey's struggling and rupturing an organ as it was being swallowed. This fossil is on display at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History in [[Hays, Kansas]].<ref>Konishi, T., Newbrey, M. G., & Caldwell, M. W. (2014). A small, exquisitely preserved specimen of ''Mosasaurus missouriensis'' (Squamata, Mosasauridae) from the upper Campanian of the Bearpaw Formation, western Canada, and the first stomach contents for the genus. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 34(4), 802–819. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2014.838573</ref>
Like many other species in the Late Cretaceous oceans, a dead or injured individual was likely to be scavenged by sharks (''[[Cretoxyrhina]]'' and ''[[Squalicorax]]''). The remains of a ''Xiphactinus'' were found within a large specimen of ''[[Cretoxyrhina]]'' collected by Charles H. Sternberg. The specimen is on display at the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History.
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