Paleontologists working at the University of Portsmouth have recently made a startling discovery. They found the fossilized remains of what’s thought to be a whole new species. With a size that doubles that of the killer whale, the creature must have been terrifying, to say the least. Check out all about the prehistoric sea monster and how its remains were discovered here.
A Prehistoric Sea Monster Is Discovered
The new species whose bones were recently uncovered seems to have been a prehistoric reptile that lived underwater. The remains were accidentally discovered by Professor David Martill and Ph.D. student Megan Jacobs during their visit to an Oxfordshire museum. The pair initially came to photograph the remains of another prehistoric sea monster, but what they found in the drawer turned out not to be the expected ichthyosaur.
With a backbone the size of a dinner plate, the prehistoric sea monster was quickly distinguished from the bones of a dinosaur. Scientists have concluded the skeletal remains must belong to a pliosaur, a marine species that reigned the sea some 152 million years ago.
Previous Discoveries of Pliosaur Remains
The enormous sea monster known as the pliosaur was relatively unknown to the general public until late 1999 when BBC TV issued a docuseries called Walking With Dinosaurs. The show reveals peculiar animal species that have gone extinct many millions of years ago.
One of them included the Liopleurodon. It was a massive sea creature weighing up to 150 tons and being some 25 meters long. This statement sparked a huge debate among scientists as there was no way to tell just how much such an animal must have weighed back in 1999.
With pliosaur remains typically some seven meters long, a good number of paleontologists didn’t believe such huge prehistoric sea monsters could’ve ever walked the Earth. However, the most recent remains made by Professor Martill show a creature that must’ve been some 14.4 meters long.