Featured Image Credit: Dmitry Bogdanov via Wikipedia
By Kira Krall
We all know about dinosaurs, but what about their aquatic cousins? We’re counting down the scariest prehistoric sea creatures!
- Tylosaurus
Imagine a sea stretching from Gulf of Mexico, across the modern-day Midwest, and into the Arctic Circle. The tropical waters of that body of water, called the Western Interior Segway, was where this next animal called home. Their closest living relative? The humble monitor lizard.
- Plesiosaur
One thing that separates Plesiosaur from the other prehistoric marine reptiles is how it reproduced. They gave birth to live young, which means they may have been warm-blooded. Geologist William Buckland described the animal as “a sea serpent run through a turtle.”
- Leedsicthys
What looks like a 52-foot shark could be found feasting on microscopic plankton! Fossil records show bone plates covering the gills that likely helped filter tiny sea creatures out of the water.
- Kronosaurus
This Cretaceous reptile had not one, but TWO sets of fins that it could use to swim against strong underwater currents in pursuit if its prey. Kronosaurus fossils were found in Queensland, Australia and Boyacá, Columbia. This species got its Hollywood debut in Jurassic World.
- Liopleurodon
Meet the apex predator of the waters that once covered Europe. It was an ambush predator that grew up to 21 feet. That’s more than twice the length of a bottlenose dolphin.
- Helicoprion
Fossil records of this next beast are notorious for leaving behind only a wheel of teeth called a “tooth whorl.” As their teeth grew, their teeth turned inward and formed a spiral. The teeth in the center of the whorl are the oldest.
- Livyatan
Our first mammal on this list was like a turbo-charged sperm whale (the largest existing toothed whale). It had the same size and power of its descendants, but it had 14 inch teeth lining each jaw. They currently hold the record for longest tooth ever known!
- Mosasaurus
Based on the large eyes and small olfactory bulbs, paleontologists think this creature feasted on animals near the surface, including prehistoric birds.
- Megalodon
The famous 59-foot shark comes in at number three on this list of sea monsters. It’s estimated that its bite force could have exceeded 182,000 Newtons. By comparison, the great white shark bite force is a measly 1,660 psi.
- Basilosaurus
A mug that terrifying was initially thought to be a marine reptile, but then was reclassified as a marine mammal. Just like Livyatan, this early whale had rows of BIG teeth. But it had table manners. It chewed its food instead of swallowing it whole like most ocean creatures do.