Palaeontology

Huge 'sea monster' fossil found in Antarctica

By T.K. Randall
November 15, 2016

Image: Antarctica - Petermann Island
Credit: W. Bulach / CC BY-SA 4.0 (adapted) Sea monsters might be the stuff of myths and legends today, but in the distant past the world's oceans were teeming with large carnivorous reptiles that could have swallowed a man whole.

The fossil skull of one such beast was recently discovered on Anatarctica's Seymour Island by scientists with the Chilean Palaeontological Expedition.

By measuring its physical attributes, the researchers were able to determine that the skull belonged to a creature measuring a whopping 33ft in length, making it the biggest ever found in the region.It's name - Kaikaifilu hervei - references a sea monster legend from Chile's Mapuche culture.

"Prior to this research, the known mosasaur remains from Antarctica provided no evidence for the presence of very large predators like Kaikaifilu, in an environment where plesiosaurs were especially abundant," said palaeontologist Rodrigo Otero from the University of Chile.

"The new find complements one expected ecological element of the Antarctic ecosystem during the latest Cretaceous."

Source: Live Science

Tags: Dinosaur, Mosasaur