The mosasaur Thalassotitan attacks a smaller mosasaur species, Halisaurus. Art by Andrey Atuchin.
The Conversation has an article about the latest mosasaur discoveries. Mosasaurs grew to length of 12 meters or more and are related to modern day snakes and lizards. Had they survived, we would be calling them real-life sea monsters. The discovery of a new species, Thalassotitan atrox, lived 66 million years ago right up to the K-Pg mass extinction. It gives a view into the health of the marine ecosystems at the end of the Cretaceous.
Sixty six million years ago, sea monsters really existed. They were mosasaurs, huge marine lizards that lived at the same time as the last dinosaurs. Growing up to 12 metres long, mosasaurs looked like a Komodo dragon with flippers and a shark-like tail. They were also wildly diverse, evolving dozens of species that filled different niches. Some ate fish and squid, some ate shellfish or ammonites.
Now we’ve found a new mosasaur preying on large marine animals, including other mosasaurs.
The new species, Thalassotitan atrox, was dug up in the Oulad Abdoun Basin of Khouribga Province, an hour outside Casablanca in Morocco.
At the end of the Cretaceous period, sea levels were high, flooding much of Africa. Ocean currents, driven by the trade winds, pulled nutrient-rich bottom waters to the surface, creating a thriving marine ecosystem. The seas were full of fish, attracting predators – the mosasaurs. They brought their own predators, the giant Thalassotitan. Nine metres long and with a massive, 1.3 metre-long head, it was the deadliest animal in the sea.
