They've called it The Monster
Norwegian scientists have today announced that a 150 million-year-old fossilised pliosaur found on Spitspergen, an Arctic island, is the largest marine reptile known to science.
The specimen, represented by the above picture, is one of 40 pliosaurs found on the island. If you thought Jaws was scary, well, scientists have given this creature the menacing nickname of "The Monster", claiming it would have measured a staggering 50ft from nose to tail.
Speaking to the BBC, Dr Jorn Hurum, from the University of Oslo Natural History Museum, said:
"We have carried out a search of the literature, so we now know that we have the biggest (pliosaur). It's not just arm-waving anymore."
"The flipper is 3m long with very few parts missing. On Monday, we assembled all the bones in our basement and we amazed ourselves - we had never seen it together before."
The crocodile-shaped pliosaurs are characterised by a short neck and an elongated head, ideally suited to deep waters where they likely fed on fish and plesiosaurs.
Plesiosaur paleontologist Richard Forrest said: "These animals were awesomely powerful predators."
"A large pliosaur was big enough to pick up a small car in its jaws and bite it in half", he adds.
Excavators plan to return to the Svalbard chain of islands later this year to complete the recovery of further fossilised pliosaurs. "The Monster" may not be the biggest of them all for long, but it sure makes the ocean seem a whole lot scarier.
Source: BBC.co.uk
