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Alternatively, plesiosaurs could have rested on the sea bottom, while the head was sent out to search for prey, which seemed to be confirmed by the fact the eyes were directed relatively upwards. Finally, Conybeare suggested the possibility that plesiosaurs swam on the surface, letting their necks plunge downwards to seek food at lower levels.
Illustration of the skeletal anatomy of a Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus from Conybeare's 1824 paper that described an almost complete plesiosaur skeleton found by Mary Anning in 1823. Plesiosaurus was a moderately sized plesiosaur that grew to 2.87–3.5 m (9.4–11.5 ft) in length.
Elasmosaurus differed from all other plesiosaurs by having 72 neck vertebrae; more may have been present but were later lost to erosion or after excavation. Only Albertonectes had more neck vertebrae, 76, and the two are the only plesiosaurs with a count higher than 70; more than 60 vertebrae is very derived (or "advanced") for plesiosaurs. [14 ...
Plesiosaurs were ocean-going reptiles that were contemporaries of the dinosaurs, living from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous Period. Geology: Prehistoric plesiosaurs were penguins ...
The plesiosaur's smooth and hydrodynamic skin allowed it to swim efficiently to catch fish and other squid-like animals, but its scaly flippers likely helped them move across rough sea floors by ...
On April 25, 1977, the Japanese trawler Zuiyō Maru, fishing east of Christchurch, New Zealand, caught a strange, unknown creature in the trawl.The crew was convinced it was an unidentified animal, [4] but despite the potential biological significance of the curious discovery, the captain, Akira Tanaka, decided to dump the carcass into the ocean again so not to risk spoiling the fish caught.
Sea snakes: the most abundant of the marine reptiles, there are over 60 different species of sea snakes. They inhabit the tropical and subtropical waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans, though very limited reports of sightings suggest they may be extending into the Atlantic Ocean. Sea snakes are venomous and their bites have been known to be ...
Gastroliths were generally either disc-shaped or spherical; the former would've come from beaches and the latter from river mouths. All were composed of chert, as is the case with several other species of plesiosaurs. It is hypothesized that chert stones are specifically sought out by plesiosaurs as gastroliths for their hardness and durability ...