'Sea monster' fossil found.Summary: The skull of a giant ocean creature has been discovered on the UK's Jurassic Coast. The skull of a giant ocean creature has been discovered on the UK's Jurassic Coast. The fossil comes from a pliosaur The Pliosaurs ("Fin Lizards") were marine reptiles from the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods. They originally included members of the family Pliosauridae, in the order Plesiosauria, but several other genera and families are now also included, the number and details of which vary , a ferocious predator which lived in the oceans 150 million years ago. It was unearthed Unearthed is the name of a Triple J project to find and "dig up" (hence the name) hidden talent in regional Australia. Unearthed has had three incarnations - they first visited each region of Australia where Triple J had a transmitter - 41 regions in all. by a local collector in Dorset, measures 2.4m in length and scientists believe the creature would have been 16m in length. Pliosaurs were a form of plesiosaur, a group of giant aquatic reptiles reptiles terrestrial or aquatic vertebrates which breathe air through lungs and have a skin covering of horny scales. They are poikilothermic, oviparous or ovoviviparous, and, if they have legs they are short and constructed solely for crawling. which lived in the seas at around the same time dinosaurs roamed the Earth. They had short necks and huge, crocodilian-like head that contained power jaws and hugh razor-sharp teeth. They would have preyed on dolphin-like ichthyosaurs This list of ichthyosaurs is a comprehensive listing of all genera that have ever been included in the order Ichthyosauria or the parent clade Ichthyopterygia, excluding purely vernacular terms. and even other plesiosaurs This list of plesiosaurs is a comprehensive listing of all genera that have ever been included in the order Plesiosauria, excluding purely vernacular terms. The list includes all commonly accepted genera, but also genera that are now considered invalid, doubtful ( . Palaeontologist David Martill said: "They had massive big muscles on their necks, and you would have imagined that they would bite into the animal and get a good grip, and then with these massive neck muscles they probably would have thrashed the animals around and torn chunks off. It would have been a bit of a blood bath." After it has been scientifically analysed and prepared, it will be put on display at the Dorset County Museum The Dorset County Museum is located in Dorchester, Dorset, England. Founded in 1846, the museum covers the county of Dorset's history and environment. The current building dates from 1884 and is in the Gothic style. in Dorchester. The fossil was purchased by Dorset County Council for Au20,000 with money from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Independent Television News Limited 2009. All rights reserved. Independent Television News Limited 2009. All rights reserved. Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion