7,000-Pound, Car-Sized Sea Turtle Fossil Found in Spain Is One of the Largest of Its Species That Ever Lived

Scientists recently reported finding fossilized remains of a humongous sea turtle species in Cal Torrades, Spain, that dates back 83 million years. It belongs to an entirely new species that might have been one of the biggest sea turtles that ever lived in history, measuring about 12.27 feet (3.74 meters) in length and weighing about 7,000 pounds (3,175 kilograms), MailOnline reported.

The species is named Leviathanochelys aenigmatica and is believed to have lived in the seas surrounding the North American continent between 66 to 100 million years ago.

Europe's Biggest-Known Turtle

Researchers described the fossils in northeastern Spain of a turtle that lived during the Cretaceous Period as the biggest-known turtle in Europe. According to Reuters, it is much bigger than the leatherback, which could grow up to 7 feet (2 meters) long, and is known for its marine migrations.

Albert Sellés, a co-author of the study from the research center Institut Català de Paleontologia (ICP), said that the L. aenigmatica was as long as a Mini Cooper while the Archelon turtle was the same size as a Toyota Corolla.

The team noted that the turtle's enormous size played a crucial part in how it lived, given the hazardous traffic in the ancient Tethys Sea, where it swam. There were huge marine reptiles and large predators like mosasaurs, sharks, rays, and plesiosaurs living in those waters millions of years ago.

Lead author Oscar Castillo, a student in a master's degree program in paleontology at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, said that attacking the size of L. aenigmatica could have only been done by large predators. He further explained that sea turtles tend to increase their body size during the Cretaceous period due to their predators.

They unearthed the fossils of L. aenigmatica near Coll de Nargó in Catalonia's Alt Urgell county after a hiker in the Southern Pyrenees mountains spotted some bones protruding from the ground. Up to now, they have only found the posterior portion of the turtle's carapace or its shell and most of its pelvic girdle, but they have not found any skull, tail, or limbs.

The fossils confirm that the turtle once had a smooth shell, similar to leatherback turtles, built for the open ocean and rarely returned to land to lay eggs. But its bony bulges on the front side of the pelvis are different from any known sea turtle, which indicates it is a newly discovered lineage that developed independently in separate Cretaceous lineage in North America and Europe.

Well-Known Large Turtles

According to National History Museum, leatherback sea turtles are among the largest living turtles that can grow around 2 meters long. They are usually found in the tropics, although they can occasionally venture as far north as Norway. Despite their large size, a much bigger specimen is held in the National Museum Cardiff.

This 3.9-meter-long turtle is the largest extinct turtle that has ever been alive. It was called Protostega gigas, as described by Edward Drinker Cope, and was found in the 1870s. Analysis reveals that it could grow up to 4.2 meters in length or equal to two king-sized beds.

Then 20 years later, the giant turtle named Archelon ischyros was discovered. A 4.6-meter-long Archelon fossil called Brigitta was claimed to be the largest ever turtle. Many thought these giant sea turtles were ancestors or related to leatherback turtles. But subsequent studies challenge this relationship.

Now, scientists consider them animals that branched off from the ancestors of modern marine turtles that lived during the Late Jurassic period over 145 million years ago.

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