A 66 million-year-old huge sea reptile that dominated the waters was discovered by researchers.
According to a university press statement, researchers at the University of Bath uncovered fossilized bones of a giant mosasaur, a marine contemporary of the Tyrannosaurus rex (T.rex) and Triceratops. The remains were discovered in Morocco.
The Atlantic flooded northern Africa 66 million years ago, near the close of the Cretaceous period, when nutrient-rich waters gave rise to plankton blooms. Small fish ate the plankton and became food for larger fish, which were later eaten by marine reptiles like mosasaurs and plesiosaurs. While the T.rex dominated the land food chain, a comparable predator was lacking in the waters. As a result, a mosasaur evolved to inhabit this location.
What exactly are mosasaurs?
Mosasaurs were not dinosaurs, but rather large marine lizards that could grow to ...