New Found Fragments Tell Story of 'Sea-Monsters' Mosasaurs That Existed 66-Million Years Ago

Mosasaurs were gigantic sea lizards who lived with the last dinosaurs. Sea monsters indeed existed sixty-six million years ago. Mosasaurs were up to 12 meters long and resembled Komodo dragons having paddles as well as a shark-like tail. Those were also incredibly varied, with hundreds of species emerging to fill various niches. Many hunted and fished for squid and other saltwater fishes while others consumed shellfish or sea urchins.

Paleontologists recently discovered a new mosasaur that preys on enormous marine creatures, including other mosasaurs.

Thalassotitan atrox, a genetic mutation detected in Morocco, was discovered throughout the Oulad Abdoun Basin in Khouribga Province, about an hour outside Casablanca, according to a report from Ancient Page.

Mosasaurs Ancient Anatomy

Sea levels were quite high during the final moment of the Cretaceous epoch, drowning the majority of Africa. Ancient trade winds drove ocean currents that brought nutrient-rich bottom bodies of water to the top, resulting in vibrant marine life. The oceans were teeming with fish, which drew predators-mosasaurs. They managed to bring their predator, a massive Thalassotitan. They were the deadliest animal throughout the sea, measuring nine meters in length and with a gigantic 1.3-meter-long skull.

To grasp fish, most mosasaurs developed long jaws with little teeth. Thalassotitan, on the other hand, was constructed mainly differently. It consisted of a short, broad snout and powerful, killer whale-like jaws. The rear of something like the skull remained wide enough to accommodate enormous jaw muscles, allowing it to bite powerfully. Following the anatomy, this mosasaur was designed to attack and rip apart huge creatures.

Their gigantic, conical teeth are reminiscent of orcas' teeth. The edges of such teeth are fractured, shattered, and crushed under. Such significant wear, which was not observed in ocean mosasaurs, shows Thalassotitan injured its teeth by gnawing through vertebrae of marine reptiles such as plesiosaurs, sea turtles, and certain other mosasaurs, as stated in The Conversation report.

Researchers discovered what seems to be the petrified remnants of its captives in the same location. Thalassotitan heads and skeletal structures are formed by partly eaten mosasaur and plesiosaur fragments. Acid has partially eaten away at the fangs of these animals, including a half-meter cranium from a lengthy plesiosaur. Evidence indicates that they were killed, consumed, and swallowed by a huge predator, who subsequently spit out the bones. They can't confirm that Thalassotitan ended up eating them, but it matches the characteristics of the killer like no other, thereby making it the preferred candidate.

As the apex of the food chain, thalassotitan, reveals a great deal concerning ancient aquatic food webs and how they developed throughout the Cretaceous period.

(Photo : Nicholas Longrich)
Thalassotitan teeth.

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Thalassotitan's Predatory Evolution

Thalassotitan's finding reveals well about marine habitats soon before an asteroid struck 66 million years ago, eliminating the dinosaur era.

Thalassotitan could be one of several dozen mosasaur genera in Moroccan seas. Mosasaurs constituted only a small part of the hundreds of species that lived in the seas; however, the fact that killers were so diversified suggests that different dimensions of the food supply chain were also diversified for such oceans to nourish them all. This implies that the marine ecology was not deteriorating before the asteroid's crash.

However, plesiosaurs, huge sea turtles, ammonites, innumerable kinds of fish, invertebrates, sea urchins, as well as crustaceans flourished until the 10-kilometer-wide Chicxulub asteroid crashed into the planet, blasting debris and ashes through into the air and shutting out the light. Apparently, the demise of the Mosasaur was not the consequence of progressive changes in the environment. This was the unforeseeable effect of a swift disaster. Their demise was sudden, decisive, and surprising, like a lightning bolt from a bright blue sky.

However, the mosasaur transformation might have begun with a disaster. Surprisingly, the evolutionary development of the huge predatory mosasaurs parallels that of some other killer family, named Tyrannosauridae.

As reported by Phys.org, these vicious predators can easily acquire endangered species if their environment deteriorates. This is because predators like Thalassotitan are so susceptible to temperature change that they are so important for investigating annihilation. Just becoming an apex predator, they argue, is a dangerous survival adaptation. Evolution causes the evolution of larger and larger predators over short periods. Because of their size, they may contest for and kill prey. However, specialization for something like the top predator role makes it more vulnerable to disasters over long periods. The major extinction inevitably eliminates the apex predators, and thus the process starts again.