Dinosaurs water world. The largest dinosaurs known to science. The most famous marine predator Spinosaurus

15.06.2019

In previous publications, we have already touched on the topic of dinosaurs. Then it was about the ten largest species known to science. Today we want to acquaint you with a list of the ten most ferocious marine dinosaurs. So.

Shastasaurus (Shastasaurus) - a genus of dinosaurs that lived at the end Triassic period(more than 200 million years ago) on the territory of modern North America and possibly China. His remains have been found in California, British Columbia and the Chinese province of Guizhou. This predator is the largest marine reptile ever found on the planet. It could grow up to 21 meters in length and weigh 20 tons.

In ninth place in the ranking is the Dakosaurus - saltwater crocodile, who lived in the late Jurassic - early Cretaceous period (more than 100.5 million years ago). It was a fairly large, carnivorous animal adapted almost exclusively to hunting big booty. Can grow up to 6 meters in length.

Thalassomedon is a genus of dinosaurs that lived in North America about 95 million years ago. Most likely, it was the main predator of its time. Thalassomedon grew up to 12.3 m in length. The size of its flippers reached about 1.5–2 meters. The length of the skull was 47 centimeters, teeth - 5 cm. He ate fish.

Nothosaurus (Nothosaurus) - sea lizard, who lived 240–210 million years ago in the territory modern Russia, Israel, China and North Africa. In length reached about 4 meters. It had webbed limbs, with five long fingers that could be used both for movement on land and for swimming. Probably ate fish. A complete Notosaurus skeleton can be seen at the Museum natural history in Berlin.

In sixth place in the list of the most ferocious marine dinosaurs is Tylosaurus (Tylosaurus) - a large marine predatory lizard that inhabited the oceans at the end of Cretaceous(about 88–78 million years ago). It was the dominant marine predator of its time. It grew up to 14 m in length. Ate fish, large predatory sharks, small mosasaurs, plesiosaurs and waterfowl.

Talattoarchon (Thalattoarchon) - a large marine reptile that lived more than 245 million years ago in what is now the western part of the United States. Remains consisting of part of the skull, spine, pelvic bones, and parts of the rear fins were discovered in Nevada in 2010. According to estimates, talattoarchon was the top predator of his time. It grew to at least 8.6 m in length.

Tanystropheus is a genus of lizard-like reptiles that lived in the Middle Triassic about 230 million years ago. It grew up to 6 meters in length, and was distinguished by a very elongated and mobile neck, which reached 3.5 m. semi-aquatic image life, probably hunting near the shore for fish and cephalopods.

Liopleurodon (Liopleurodon) - a genus of large carnivores marine reptiles who lived at the turn of the middle and late jurassic(about 165 million to 155 million years ago). It is assumed that the largest known Liopleurodon was just over 10 m in length, but typical sizes for it range from 5 to 7 m (according to other sources, 16-20 meters). Body weight is estimated at 1-1.7 tons. These apex predators probably ambushed large cephalopods, ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, sharks, and other large animals they could catch.

Mosasaurus (Mosasaurus) - a genus of extinct reptiles that lived on the territory of modern Western Europe and North America during the Late Cretaceous - 70–65 million years ago. For the first time their remains were found in 1764 near the river Meuse. The total length of representatives of this genus ranged from 10 to 17.5 m. appearance resembled a mixture of fish (or whale) with a crocodile. All the time they were in the water, plunging to a considerable depth. They ate fish, cephalopods, turtles and ammonites. According to some scientists, these predators are distant relatives modern monitor lizards and iguanas.26 2

Came out very interesting story. Everyone more or less understands which animals they mean when they use this phrase. But the irony of the situation is that no marine dinosaurs existed and could not exist, these are the same mythological creatures as, say, a unicorn or King Kong. Since dinosaurs are a superorder of terrestrial vertebrates, that is, creatures living in water and even more so in the sea cannot be dinosaurs under any circumstances. However, in the non-scientific lexicon, the designation "marine dinosaurs" is widely used in relation to marine reptiles that existed at about the same time period as the dinosaurs.

ichthyosaurs

Ichthyosaurs existed 250-90 million years ago and were the largest marine reptiles of their time. These animals had a number of features: for example, they were viviparous, had big eyes, protected by special bone rings (which suggests their ability to hunt in the dark), could hold their breath for a long time and dive to a depth of hundreds of meters.

Ichthyosaurs were predators and fed on various marine animals: squid, fish, small marine reptiles. The most famous ichthyosaur is Shonisaurus, the largest of the ichthyosaurs and, in general, of all marine reptiles - the size of adults exceeded twenty meters. At the same time, scientists are still arguing about the feeding system of shonisaurs: these creatures had powerful jaws, which rejects the possibility of a filtration type of plankton feeding, but had weak and few teeth. Because of this, and also because of their own sluggishness, shonisaurs could hardly hunt fish and fast reptiles. It is assumed that the basis of the diet of shonisaurs was cephalopods.

Plesiosaurs

The ichthyosaurs were replaced by the plesiosaurs as the dominant marine reptile species. Plesiosaurs long time coexisted with ichthyosaurs since they appeared about 200 million years ago, but were able to outlive their competitors by 25 million years. This detachment also enjoys considerable popularity, but primarily due to the fact that existing modern legends about mysterious monsters living in isolated lakes (the most famous example- the monster of Loch Ness), usually give descriptions that are most suitable for scientists' ideas about plesiosaurs. Meanwhile, plesiosaurs were divided into two suborders - long-necked and short-necked. In general, plesiosaurs were somewhat smaller than ichthyosaurs - the largest individuals found reached a length of about 15 meters. Science tends to believe that plesiosaurs were also viviparous animals, and research on their diet suggests that they fed on shellfish, fish, small marine reptiles, and even winged reptiles, pterosaurs.

The Kronosaurus, discovered in 1899 in Australia, received the widest coverage in the press. The skeleton of this creature, reaching a length of almost 13 meters, for that time was truly giant size, because of which the kronosaurus became a character in popular culture, it began to be included in various popular science and works of art and identified as a marine analogue of the terrestrial tyrannosaurus rex .

Mosasaurs

Between 145-66 million years ago in prehistoric seas The earth was also inhabited by mosasaurs, a family adapted to life in salty marine environment lizards. These lizards in the course of evolution “developed” streamlined serpentine bodies, and the limbs were transformed into flippers. Dimensions different types mosasaurs could be different, from 3 to 20 meters. The largest of them and the first to be scientifically described was the mosasaurus itself, which was distinguished by a powerful skull with massive teeth and lived mainly in coastal areas. sea waters, the depth of which did not exceed 50 meters. He was an active and aggressive predator, attacking any creatures that were literally and figuratively in his teeth, but at the same time, due to the lost mobility of the bones of the skull, he could not swallow large pieces of meat.

Another notable member of the mosasaurus family was the genus Tylosaurus, which were also general predators, that is, they attacked any prey they came across. At the same time, unlike the mosasaurus, the tylosaurus had very mobile bones of the skull, which allowed it to open its mouth wide and swallow rather large prey. In addition, tylosaurs dived significantly great depth, up to several hundred meters and had a lighter skeleton compared to other mosasaurs, which increased the speed of their movements.

Alexander Babitsky

According to modern paleontologists, giant ancient reptiles began to explore water element at the end of the Permian period of his life on Earth. Scientists say that throughout their lives they always returned to the water. The reason for this is the abundance of underwater food and, of course, safety.

In the seas and oceans

It is curious that life in the seas and oceans did not at all require any fundamental restructuring of the body from the ancient pangolins: one has only to recall modern reptiles that live in water, but have a completely land-based appearance. For example, these are crocodiles or

It is worth noting that the movement and nutrition of dinosaurs in the water is an energy cost, accounting for only a quarter of all the costs required for their movement and nutrition directly on land! The so-called primitive dinosaurs, a dead-end branch in evolution, returned to the water with particular ease. But that's a completely different story.

The first swimming dinosaurs - who are they?

Scientists believe that the first true aquatic were Permian mesosaurs, representing a subclass of anapsids. Following them, representatives of the so-called primitive diapsids returned to the water: tangosaurs, hovasauruses and claudiosaurs.

They all belonged to the eosuchian order and reached a length of only 50 cm. Only in the middle of the Triassic period did these swimming dinosaurs "grow" to two meters in length, finally turning into serious and even dangerous reptiles.

Outwardly, they resembled today's newts from the class of amphibians: aquatic eosuchia had a long tail, flattened from the sides, and a crest running along the back through the entire body. In the Triassic period, no more than 5 groups of aquatic reptiles existed on Earth. We have just considered one of them - these are water eosuchia. Consider in detail the other types of swimming dinosaurs.

Placodonts

Outwardly, they resembled small long-tailed seals. Their length did not exceed 1.5 m. The body of placodonts had a streamlined and fusiform shape. The head is small, the legs are short. The swimming methods of dinosaurs belonging to the placodont group were not very diverse: the reptiles simply stretched their awkward short legs along the body and swam like small torpedoes.

As mentioned above, the whole truth about placodont dinosaurs, like many other aquatic reptiles, is shrouded in darkness and mystery. Scientists are inclined to believe that these are the descendants of some ancient anapsids. Nevertheless, the age of placodonts was short - these creatures originated at the beginning of the Triassic, but by its end they completely died out.

Nothosaurs

These are another swimming dinosaurs that lived in the Triassic era. Their dimensions reached 4 m in length, but the vast majority of them were still noticeably smaller. Predatory reptiles had a streamlined body, a short tail, and a rather flexible neck, equal to the length of their body.

They had a small head with a mouth armed sharp teeth. These creatures moved in the water with the help of monotonous movements of the tail, which creates and also through their webbed paws.

If the need arose for notosaurs, they easily climbed ashore and basked in the sun. Scientists are sure that predators were ancient lobe-finned fish species. It is curious that in the second half of the Triassic period, these creatures gave rise to a separate branch of the now known aquatic predators - plesiosaurs. The notosaurs themselves became extinct by the end of the Triassic.

Tallatosaurus

Representatives of this group outwardly resembled the above-described notosaurs, only the neck was shorter and the head was larger. The swimming methods of the dinosaurs of this group cannot be called unique: they did not use their paws for rowing at all, but simply extended them along the body, like placodonts.

Scientists are inclined to believe that these creatures originated from some ancient and primitive anapsids, even more ancient than the previously mentioned water eosuchia. They died out by the end of the Triassic, like notosaurs. They left no descendants behind.

ichthyosaurs

This is the last group represented by the world's most famous swimming dinosaurs - ichthyosaurs. Ichthyosaurs, better than all other pangolins, were adapted to life and habitation in the seas and oceans. It is known that these predators are descendants of diapsids, but which ones are unknown. Ichthyosaurs appeared in Permian, although the oldest remains of these reptiles date from the Lower Triassic period.

Outwardly, ichthyosaurs completely repeated the shape of today's fish. Their triangular head with jaws stretched forward resembled the head of dolphins. Laterally flattened torso, vertical tail blade and paws, turned into fins, made them unlike all their aquatic predecessors.

Giant among swimming dinosaurs

His name is Liopleurodon. It is the largest aquatic predator of all time and is the most studied species. Its dimensions are still the subject of debate among scientific men. According to most experts, liopleurodons could reach a length of 25 m, and weigh up to 150 tons! According to some reports, this is the most large predator ever lived on earth. By the way, he belonged to the already mentioned plesiosaurs and lived during the Jurassic period.

Dinosaurs were the dominant vertebrates that inhabited all the ecosystems of planet Earth for over 160 million years - from the Triassic period (about 230 million years ago) to the end of the Cretaceous period (about 65 million years ago). I want to acquaint you with a list of the ten most ferocious marine dinosaurs.

10 Shastasaurus

Shastasaurus (Shastasaurus) - a genus of dinosaurs that lived at the end of the Triassic period (more than 200 million years ago) in the territory of modern North America and, possibly, China. His remains have been found in California, British Columbia and the Chinese province of Guizhou. This predator is the largest marine reptile ever found on the planet. It could grow up to 21 meters in length and weigh 20 tons.

9 Dacosaurus

In ninth place in the ranking is Dakosaurus, a marine crocodile that lived in the late Jurassic - early Cretaceous period (more than 100.5 million years ago). It was a fairly large, carnivorous animal, adapted almost exclusively to hunting large prey. Can grow up to 6 meters in length.

8. Thalassomedon

7. Nothosaurus

Nothosaurus (Nothosaurus) is a marine lizard that lived 240-210 million years ago in the territory of modern Russia, Israel, China and North Africa. In length reached about 4 meters. It had webbed limbs, with five long fingers that could be used both for movement on land and for swimming. Probably ate fish. A complete Nothosaurus skeleton can be seen at the Natural History Museum in Berlin.

6. Tylosaurus

In sixth place in the list of the most ferocious marine dinosaurs is Tylosaurus (Tylosaurus) - a large marine predatory lizard that inhabited the oceans at the end of the Cretaceous period (about 88-78 million years ago). It was the dominant marine predator of its time. It grew up to 14 m in length. It fed on fish, large predatory sharks, small mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, and waterfowl.

5. Talattoarchon

Talattoarchon (Thalattoarchon) - a large marine reptile that lived more than 245 million years ago in what is now the western part of the United States. The remains, consisting of part of the skull, spine, pelvic bones, and part of the hind fins, were discovered in Nevada in 2010. According to estimates, talattoarchon was the top predator of his time. It grew to at least 8.6 m in length.

4. Tanystropheus

Tanystropheus is a genus of lizard-like reptiles that lived in the Middle Triassic about 230 million years ago. It grew up to 6 meters in length, and was distinguished by a very elongated and mobile neck, which reached 3.5 m. It led a predatory aquatic or semi-aquatic lifestyle, probably hunting fish and cephalopods near the coast.

3. Liopleurodon

Liopleurodon (Liopleurodon) - a genus of large carnivorous marine reptiles that lived at the turn of the middle and late Jurassic period (from about 165 million to 155 million years ago). It is assumed that the largest known Liopleurodon was just over 10 m in length, but typical sizes for it range from 5 to 7 m (according to other sources, 16-20 meters). Body weight is estimated at 1-1.7 tons. These apex predators probably ambushed large cephalopods, ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, sharks, and other large animals they could catch.

2 Mosasaurus

Mosasaurus (Mosasaurus) is a genus of extinct reptiles that lived on the territory of modern Western Europe and North America during the Late Cretaceous - 70-65 million years ago. For the first time their remains were found in 1764 near the river Meuse. The total length of representatives of this genus ranged from 10 to 17.5 m. In appearance, they resembled a mixture of a fish (or a whale) with a crocodile. All the time they were in the water, plunging to a considerable depth. They ate fish, cephalopods, turtles and ammonites. According to some scientists, these predators are distant relatives of modern monitor lizards and iguanas.

1. Megalodon

Megalodon (Carcharocles megalodon) - an extinct species prehistoric shark, who lived everywhere in the oceans 28.1-3 million years ago. Is the largest known predatory fish in history. It is estimated that the megalodon reached 18 meters in length and weighed 60 tons. The shape of the body and behavior was similar to the modern white shark. He hunted cetaceans and other large marine animals. Interestingly, some cryptozoologists claim that this animal could have survived to the present, but apart from the found huge teeth (up to 15 cm in length), there is no other evidence that the shark still lives somewhere in the ocean.

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