The first fish on earth. The most terrible prehistoric inhabitants of the sea
We have already talked about strange, huge and very dangerous dinosaurs and others millions of years ago, but in fact, some of these animals have survived to this day. Having undergone minor changes, or not changing at all, appearance, some of these creatures have taken root perfectly in modern world. From the fearsome descendants of deep-sea prehistoric sharks to a species of ant that has been around for 120 million years, today we tell you about twenty-five prehistoric animals that still exist today.
25. Tadpole shrimp
The seabill, officially known as Triops longicaudatus, is a freshwater crustacean that resembles a miniature horseshoe crab. They are considered a living fossil because their basic prehistoric morphology has changed little over the past 70 million years, closely matching the bodies of their ancient ancestors who inhabited the Earth until approximately 220 million years ago.
24. Lampreys
The lamprey is a jawless fish characterized by a serrated, funnel-like suction cup mouth. Although they are well known to burrow their teeth into the flesh of other fish to suck blood, only a small number of the 38 known species do it. The oldest fossilized lamprey skeleton was found in South Africa and dates back approximately 360 million years ago, but it undeniably bears striking similarities to modern specimens.
23 Sandhill crane
Sandhill crane, endemic to North America and North-Eastern Siberia, is large and heavy bird, weighing up to 4.5 kilograms. A fossil skeleton more than 10 million years old found in Nebraska is believed to belong to a sandhill crane, but scientists are not sure if it is the same species. However, another sandhill crane fossil dates back to 2.5 million years ago.
22. Sturgeon
The sturgeon, which lives in rivers, lakes and coastal waters of the subtropical, temperate and subarctic zones, is sometimes called a “primitive fish” because its morphological characteristics remained virtually unchanged from the oldest fossil of the species found, approximately 200 million years old. Unfortunately, overfishing, pollution and other forms of habitat destruction have brought these fish to the brink of extinction, with some species already on the brink of extinction.
21. Chinese giant salamander
The Chinese giant salamander, the largest salamander and amphibian in the world, can reach a length of 180 centimeters. As a living member of the Cryptobranchidea family, which originated 170 million years ago, this unique creature is also considered a critically endangered species due to habitat loss, pollution and overharvesting, as it is considered a delicacy and used in traditional Chinese medicine.
20. Ant from Mars (Martialis heureka ant)
This species of ant was discovered in 2000 in tropical forests Amazons in Brazil. It is notable for its unusual morphology. The Mars ant, which belongs to the oldest known distinct genus that branched off from the ancestors of all other ants, is estimated to have roamed our planet for approximately 120 million years.
19. Goblin shark
The goblin shark, whose body length can reach up to 4 meters in adults, is a rare and poorly studied species of deep-sea shark. Its strange and scary appearance suggests that this creature has its origins in the prehistoric era. The first direct ancestors of the goblin shark lived on Earth 125 million years ago. Despite the frightening appearance and big size, this type of shark is practically harmless to humans.
18. Horseshoe crab
Horseshoe crabs are marine arthropods that live primarily in shallow ocean waters on soft sandy or muddy bottoms. The horseshoe crab is considered the closest relative of the legendary trilobite and is among the best-known living fossils that have remained virtually unchanged for an astonishing 450 million years.
17. Echidna
Along with the platypus, the echidna is the only surviving mammal that lays eggs. Scientific research indicate that echidnas split from platypuses approximately 48 to 19 million years ago. Their common ancestor was aquatic, but echidnas adapted to life on land. Due to its very unusual appearance, the echidna was named after the "Mother of Monsters" in Greek mythology.
16. Hatteria (Tuatara)
Hatterias, endemic to New Zealand, grow up to 80 centimeters in length and are distinguished by a spiny crest along the back, especially pronounced in males. Even though they look like modern reptiles and lizards, their body structure is believed to have remained unchanged for 200 million years. For this reason, the hatteria is of great interest for the study of the evolution of both lizards and snakes.
15. Frilled shark
Found at depths of 50 to 200 meters in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the frilled shark is another scary-looking marine living fossil. This shark species belongs to one of the oldest shark lineages still in existence, which has been around since at least the end of Cretaceous period(95 million years ago) and perhaps even since the end of the Jurassic period (150 million years ago).
14. Alligator snapping turtle
Commonly found in the waters of the southeastern United States, snapping turtles are one of two extant genera of the snapping turtle family, a prehistoric family of turtles with centuries-old history fossils dating back to the Maastrichtian stage (72 - 66 million years ago) of the Late Cretaceous period. Weighing up to approximately 180 kilograms, the vulture turtle is the heaviest freshwater turtle in the world.
13. Coelacanth
Endemic to the coastal waters of the Indian Ocean and Indonesia, the coelacanth is a genus of fish that includes two modern looking approximately of the Latimeria family. These species were thought to be extinct until they were rediscovered in 1938, and are more closely related to lungfishes, reptiles and mammals than to common ray-finned fishes. The coelacanth is thought to have evolved into approximately its current form approximately 400 million years ago.
12. Giant freshwater stingray(Giant freshwater stingray)
The giant freshwater stingray, one of the largest freshwater fish in the world, grows to almost 2 meters in diameter and can weigh up to 600 kilograms. Its thin, oval disc pectoral fin, is estimated to have evolved approximately 100 million years ago. Like most of the animals on this list, this species is also critically endangered due to overcapture for meat and aquarium display, as well as habitat degradation.
11. Nautilus
Found in the deep slopes of coral reefs in the Indian Ocean and central-west Pacific Ocean Nautilus is a pelagic mollusc. Fossils found show that this creature has lived on Earth for an incredible 500 million years, meaning it has survived several mass extinctions and major changes to the planet. But then again, this is probably the closest this species comes to being wiped out forever due to callous human activity and overfishing.
10. Medusa
Jellyfish, found in every ocean from the surface to sea depths, may have settled in the world's seas as early as 700 million years ago, making them the oldest multi-organ animals. The jellyfish is probably the only species on this list whose numbers may be increasing worldwide as a result of overfishing of their natural enemies. However, there are also some endangered species of jellyfish.
9. Platypus (Platypus)
This egg-laying animal with the beak of a duck, the tail of a beaver and the paws of an otter is often considered the strangest thing in the world. Not surprisingly, his appearance dates back to the prehistoric era. While the age of the oldest platypus skeleton fossil found by scientists on this moment, is only 100,000 years old, the first ancestor of the platypus lived on the supercontinent Gondwana 170 million years ago.
8. Long-eared jumper (Elephant shrew)
Widely distributed throughout southern Africa, long-eared jumpers are small, four-legged mammals that resemble rodents or opossums but are, ironically, more closely related to elephants. According to the fossil record, the first ancestors of this strange creature lived during the Paleogene period (66 - 23 million years ago).
7. Pelican
Surprisingly, these large waterfowl, with their huge and long beaks, are among the living fossils that have changed little since prehistory. The fossil record shows that the pelican genus has existed for at least 30 million years. The oldest fossilized skeleton found in early Oligocene sediments in France bears a striking resemblance to modern form birds, and its beak is morphologically identical to the beak of existing pelicans.
6. Mississippi Carapace (Alligator Gar)
Mississippian shellfish, one of the largest freshwater fish in North America, are often called "primitive fish" or "living fossils" due to the fact that they retain some morphological characteristics of their earliest ancestors, such as a spiral valve and the ability to breathe and air and in the water. The fossil record traces the existence of the carapace to more than 100 million years ago.
5. Sponge
It is difficult to measure exactly how long sea sponges have existed on our planet, as estimates vary widely, but the oldest evidence of a sea sponge appears to be a fossilized skeleton recently discovered in a rock that is 760 million years old.
4. Slithertooth (Solenodon)
Snap teeth are poisonous, leading night look life of burrowing mammals. This small creature is endemic to several countries Caribbean often called a living fossil because it has changed little over the past 76 million years, retaining the primitive mammalian characteristics typical of its prehistoric ancestors.
3. Crocodiles
Unlike sawtooths and many of the other animals on this list, crocodiles actually resemble dinosaurs. Including crocodiles, alligators, caimans, gharials and gharial crocodiles, this group appeared approximately 250 million years ago in the early Triassic period and their modern descendants still share many of the common morphological characteristics of their distant ancestors.
2. Pygmy right whale
The pygmy whale, thought to be extinct until 2012 when it was rediscovered, is the smallest of the baleen whales. Since it is a very rare animal, little is known about its population or social behavior. What we do know is that the pygmy whale is a descendant of the Cetotheriidae, a family of baleen whales that existed from the late Oligocene to the late Pliocene (28 - 1 million years ago).
1. Black-bellied disc-tongue frog (Hula painted frog)
Even frogs also have living fossils. Like the pygmy whale, the black-bellied disc-tongue frog was thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered in 2011. The frog was originally thought to have existed for only 15,000 years, however, based on phylogenetic analysis, it has been estimated that the frog's last direct ancestor existed approximately 32 million years ago, making the black-bellied disc-tongued frog the only extant member of the genus.
Who are they and where are they from?
The shark is one of the oldest inhabitants of the world's oceans. The first sharks appeared in Paleozoic era, 350-320 million years ago, and similar to modern ones - 150 million years. Together with stingrays, they also bear the biological name "selakhii", and belong to the group of cartilaginous fish. Unlike most fish, their skeleton contains absolutely no bone tissue, but the body is covered with scaly scales, the tissue of which is identical in structure to the tooth tissue. These and other features allow us to consider them the most primitive of the modern existing fish. However, over millions of years they have adapted to life perfectly. Again, the characteristics of teeth, motor, nervous system and sense organs completely equalize them in terms of the level of organization with the most progressive bony fish, and in some places they give advantages.
In total, about 350 species of sharks are known. Most belong to the so-called true predators, individual species(interestingly, the largest ones), such as giant, whale and largemouth, feed on plankton.
They...
The bad reputation of sharks is as old as knowing them. There is still no certainty on this issue. Sometimes both children and scuba divers swim and swim near sharks - and nothing bad happens. And other times, sharks grab bathers on crowded beaches, in shallow water, where a person is waist-deep and where nothing like this has ever happened before.
The last two years brought rich prey to the sharks World War. As a result, even staff officers realized how dangerous sharks are for soldiers, sailors and pilots in distress in the tropics. And at the beginning of the war, in the “Manual for Shipwreck Survivors”, published in the USA, it was written about sharks as follows: “slow, cowardly and can be frightened by slaps on the water” ... Probably, similar recommendations can be encountered now. But what they led to, using the example of the aforementioned sailors:
“The Nova Scotia transport was sunk off the coast of Southeast Africa, killing a thousand people. A lot of corpses in life jackets floated around - and all the bodies were without legs "...
At the moment, it is believed that there are three main reasons for shark attacks:
- Blood in the water.
- An injured or hooked fish.
- The inept floundering of a swimmer and the fear he discovered in front of a shark.
Statistics have shown that in most cases, sharks attack people swimming, walking on water, standing in it when their feet are in the water, and their head and shoulders are above it. Therefore, for scuba divers, the most dangerous moment when meeting with a shark is leaving the water and appearing on the surface.
If we exclude shipwrecks, then two-thirds of all recorded shark attacks are committed in shallow waters, at a depth of no more than one and a half meters, a hundred or so meters from the coast, mainly in the tropics and subtropics, where the water temperature is not less than 18 degrees. But even here there are many exceptions: there were cases of death from sharks and in very cool water (12 degrees). But in general it is established: when the water is colder than 15 degrees, the most dangerous sharks they lose their appetite, are lethargic, and, fortunately for them, two-legged “game” is no longer attracted to them.
...and we them
The possibilities for using sharks as commercial fish are very diverse. The meat of most species of these fish is edible, nutritious and has long been eaten in many countries of Europe and Asia. The liver of sharks is also of great value - its mass in a number of species ranges from 5 to 30% of the total body weight. Shark liver contains 40-70% fat, rich in vitamin A. In the late 60s. a fat-like substance was found in the liver of some sharks, which significantly increased the body's resistance to oncological diseases. The shark was also hunted in Russia - in 1862, in the Kola Bay, Russian coast-dwellers mined 5 thousand pounds of polar shark liver.
From the cartilaginous skeleton of sharks, gelatin and glue have long been produced on an industrial scale.
Shark skin (shagreen) is used for a wide variety of purposes - it is used to make haberdashery goods and shoes, and is used as an abrasive material for grinding. valuable species wood, as well as when processing felt. Shark skin has extraordinary tensile strength, withstanding forces of up to 500 kg/cm 2, while cowhide - only 300 kg/cm 2.
An equally valuable part of the shark's body is its fins. Typically their mass ranges from 1.7 to 4% total weight fish. All fins longer than 15 cm, with the exception of the caudal one, processed accordingly, are used to prepare a delicious soup. Boiled and peeled fins are canned, and the resulting canned food is also used to make soups. The main consumer of fins and the above-mentioned soup is China, which has caused a noticeable decline in the number of sharks in recent years.
When fishing for sharks, almost all fishing gear that currently exists is used - their choice depends on the species composition of sharks, the bottom topography in the fishing area and other factors. Large sharks are caught by longlines, rarely hit with a harpoon, and small species are caught with trawls and nets.
IN Lately there is a significant decrease in the catch of sharks - if in 1967-68. they were mined in all oceans about 340 thousand tons, then by the end of the 90s. this figure has more than doubled. This is due primarily to a decrease in the number of sharks as a result of their active fishing in previous years. Given the slow rate of shark reproduction, many countries have begun to regulate their fishing.
Katran - almost no longer exotic
And finally, purely pragmatic information. Recently, a number of travel agencies on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus have named shark fishing among their offers! Hunting for the Black Sea shark (katrana) takes place in the territorial waters of Russia, along the Black Sea coast from Cape Panagia to Cape Idokopas at a distance of 12 nautical miles from the coast. The recommended season is from late May to early November, with the peak being in August-September. Fishing time on the high seas 24 hours. The katran has a spindle-shaped body, sometimes up to 2 meters in length, ending in a multi-lobed tail. The snout is pointed, the mouth is transverse, in front of the two dorsal fins there are sharp spines covered with poisonous mucus. Brown skin with white spots on the sides is covered with diamond-shaped scales with sharp spines. The belly is white. There is no swim bladder. Sharks are heavier than water, and therefore movement is their lifelong lot. They stay in the water as long as they move or at least move their tail, otherwise they drown. And high speed of movement is also a significant factor in their well-being. Only while moving do sharks get enough oxygen into their body through their gills. Otherwise they may suffocate.
Amateur fishing black sea shark is gradually gaining more and more popularity. They catch it from a small vessel anchored or drifting. In both cases, they use bait from finely chopped fish - this is necessary so that the odorous trail spread by the bait is continuous.
As a rule, they are caught with several rods of the 15-24 kg class, equipped with powerful multiplier reels. The cost of such entertainment is around $1000.
Peter Plyukhin
When preparing the material we used:
- "Shadows in the sea. The sharks, skates and rays" by Harold W. McCormic and Tom Allen with Captain William E. Young
- V.V. Zdanovich “Fishing and use of sharks”
Largest freshwater fish
Som In the 19th century. V Russia a common one was caught catfish (Silurus glanis) length 4.6 m and weight 336 kg. Nowadays, any freshwater fish whose length exceeds 1.83 m and weighs 90 kg is already considered large.
Smallest freshwater fish
Pandaka The smallest and lightest freshwater fish is the dwarf pandaka (Pandaka pygmaea). This colorless and almost transparent fish lives in lakes about. Luzon, Philippines. The body length of males is 7.5-9.9 mm, and the weight is only 4-5 mg.
The smallest commercial fish
Sinarapan (Mistichthys luzonensis), a species of goby that is endangered and lives only in Lake Buhi. Luzon, Philippines. Males are only 10-13mm in length and it takes 70,000 fish to produce a dried fish block weighing 454g.
Oldest fish
Eel In 1948 from an aquarium Helsingborg Museum, Sweden, reported the death of a female European eel (Anguilla anguilla) named Patty, who was 88 years old. She is believed to have been born in 1860 in the Sargasso Sea, North Atlantic, and was caught somewhere in the river when she was 3 years old.
The oldest goldfish
Goldfish There have been numerous reports from China of goldfish - goldfish (Carassius auratus) living for more than 50 years, but only a few of these reports can be considered reliable.
The most valuable fish
Beluga The most expensive fish is the Russian beluga (Huso huso). A female weighing 1,227 kg, caught in the Tikhaya Sosna River in 1324, produced 245 kg of the highest quality caviar, which would cost $200,000 today.
Carp Far Eastern carp (C. Carpio) 76 cm long, champion of the most prestigious nationwide Japanese koi shows (koi is the Japanese name for carp) in 1976, 1977, 1979 and 1980, was sold in 1982 for 17 million yen. In March 1986 this ornamental carp was purchased by Derry Evans, owner of the Kent Koi Centre, near Sevenoaks, c. Kent, UK, price not announced; After 5 months, the fish, which was 15 years old, died. She was made into a stuffed animal.
A fish that can climb a tree
Pineapple Pineapple, or creeper fish, native to South Asia, is the only fish that comes onto land and even climbs trees. She walks the earth in search of a more suitable habitat. Pineapple gills are adapted to absorb oxygen from moist atmospheric air.
The smallest toad
Black-breasted toad The smallest toad - black-breasted toad (Bufo taitanus beiranus), living in Africa. The largest specimen was 24 mm long.
The smallest frog
Cuban dwarf The smallest frog and at the same time the smallest amphibian - Cuban dwarf (Sminthillus limbatus) living in Cuba; length reached full development individuals from the tip of the muzzle to the anus is 0.85 - 1.2 cm.
The biggest toad
Yeah, the biggest known toad - yeah (Bufo marinus), living in tropical zone South America and in Australia. The weight of an average-sized specimen is 450 g. In 1991, according to measurements, the weight of a male of this species, named Prince, owned by Haken Forsberg from Akers Stickebroek, Sweden, was 2.65 kg, and the length from the tip of the muzzle to the anus was extended state - 53.9 cm.
The largest frog
Goliath frog Goliath frog (Conraua goliath), caught in April 1989 by a resident of Seattle, pcs. Washington, USA, by Andy Kofman in the Sanaga River, Cameroon, weighed 3.66 kg.
Horseshoe crabs are considered to be the most ancient animals living on Earth - aquatic chelicerates from the class merostomaceae. At the moment, four modern species of these arthropods are known. They live in the shallow waters of the tropical seas of Southeast Asia and the Atlantic coast North America. Horseshoe crabs appeared on our planet about 450 million years ago.
Neopilin cephalopods originated on Earth 355-400 million years ago. They live in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans at depths from 1800 to 6500 meters. These creatures were discovered only in 1957.
Coelacanths are the only living genus of lobe-finned fish and are now considered living fossils. Now there are only two types of coelacanths - one lives in the eastern and south coast Africa, and the second was first described only in 1997-1999. near the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia.
Interestingly, at the moment, scientists do not know what a young coelacanth looks like and where young fish live for the first few years of their lives - not a single young individual was identified during dives. It is believed that coelacanths originated on Earth 300-400 million years ago.
Cockroaches appeared on our planet about 320 million years ago and have been actively spreading since then - scientists currently know more than 200 genera and 4,500 species.
The remains of cockroaches are, along with the remains of cockroaches, the most numerous traces of insects in Paleozoic deposits.
The oldest surviving large predator to this day is the crocodile. However, it is considered the only surviving species of crurotarsians - a group that also included a number of dinosaurs and pterosaurs. It is believed that crocodiles appeared on Earth approximately 250 million years ago.
Crocodiles are common in all tropical countries, living in a variety of fresh water bodies; relatively few species are tolerant of salt water and are found in coastal seas ( Nile crocodile, saltwater crocodile, African narrow-snouted crocodile).
The first crocodiles lived mainly on land and only later moved on to life in the water. All modern crocodiles are adapted to a semi-aquatic lifestyle - living in water, they, however, lay eggs on land.
Small crustaceans class Gill-footed shields appeared on Earth 220-230 million years ago, when dinosaurs still lived on the planet. Shields are small creatures and are rarely longer than 12 cm, however, due to a unique survival system, they managed to survive.
The fact is that shieldfish live in stagnant water of temporary fresh reservoirs, due to which they are freed from natural enemies and in their niche they are at the top of the ecological pyramid.
Hatteria, a species of reptile, is the only modern representative of the ancient order of beaked animals. They live only on a few islands in New Zealand, despite the fact that tuataria have already become extinct on the North and South Islands.
These reptiles grow up to 50 years, and the average life expectancy is 100 years. It is believed that they originated on the planet 220 million years ago, and now tuataria are included in the IUCN Red List and have protective status vulnerable species.
The Nephila spider is not only considered the oldest on the planet - scientists believe that this genus originated about 165 million years ago - but it is also the largest web-weaving spider. These spiders live in Australia, Asia, Africa, America and the island of Madagascar.
Interestingly, fishermen collect Nephila webs, form them into a ball, which they then throw into the water to catch fish.
Ants have inhabited our planet for 130 million years - they are believed to have evolved from vespoid wasps in the mid-Cretaceous period. Today, there are more than 12,000 species of these insects around the world, most of which are distributed in the tropics. About 300 species of ants live in Russia.
Australian echidnas, ranking with platypuses, have inhabited Australia, the islands of New Guinea and Tasmania for 110 million years and their appearance has not undergone any changes during this time. Externally, echidnas resemble a porcupine - they are also covered with coarse hair and have quills.
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Today the oceans are home to many scary creatures- these are man-eating sharks, and huge squids, and mysterious deep sea fish. But all the same, the creatures found in the depths of the waters did not come close in their parameters to those giant creatures that lived in the seas of the past.
Then you could meet huge sea lizards, monster sharks and even dangerous killer whales. If today marine life appears to us mainly as a source of food, then in those days man himself would have become food. Below we will tell you about the 10 most scary monsters who lived in the oceans in prehistoric times.
This creature is obviously the most famous on the list. Its name itself translates as “big tooth”. Many people would have a hard time even imagining a fossil shark the size of a school bus. Popular science sources like the Discovery Channel help, which, with the help of computer technology revived the monster. The shark was 22 meters long and weighed about 50 tons. It was one of the largest predators throughout the existence of the Earth. The bite force per 1 square cm was up to 30 tons. Although it seems that such a creature lived during the age of dinosaurs, megalodons lived on the planet 25-1.5 million years ago. Hence, giant sharks missed the last dinosaurs by about 40 million years. By the way, it is quite possible that megalodons managed to meet the first ancestors of people. Megalodons lived in warm oceans, hunting whales. But after the start of the ice age in the Pliocene, currents and ocean temperatures changed. Under the new conditions, the giant predators could no longer exist. Today, their closest relatives are considered to be white sharks.
These animals were typical pliosaurs, representatives Jurassic. They were first described from a single tooth found in France in 1873. At the end of the same century, a skeleton was also found. These were creatures from 6 to 25 meters long, with a large narrow head. Scientists believe that it could reach a length of 4 meters! The huge teeth reached half a meter. The creature swam with the help of huge flippers, rising to the surface for air. It could dive for a long time and deeply. Scientists based on the remains modeled the body of Liopreurodon. It turned out that he was not so much fast as very flexible. The sea dweller made quick leaps, attacking prey. There is no doubt that Liopreurodons were viviparous - such sizes simply did not give them the opportunity to crawl ashore to lay eggs.
Despite his unusual look, this creature is not a reptile at all. This is a whale, and by no means the scariest on our list. Basilosaurs are the predatory ancestors of modern whales. They reached 21 meters in length and lived on the planet 45-36 million years ago. In those days, basilosaurs inhabited all warm seas planet, being one of the most large predators. The whale is actually more like giant snake, as it had a long sinuous body. His victims were large creatures, including dorudons. Today, just the fantasy of swimming in the ocean, where the alligator-snake-whale creature lives, can kill interest in water procedures for a long time. The physical characteristics of basilosaurs suggest that they lacked the cognitive abilities of modern whales. They did not possess echolocation, practically not plunging to great depths. They also had practically no social skills, the whales were loners. As a result, the monster was quite primitive and could not pursue its victim if it got out onto land.
The name of this creature doesn't sound too scary. Meanwhile, it was one of the largest arthropods of all time. Cancer scorpions lived 460-250 million years ago, reaching a length of 2.5 meters. Only their claw was up to half a meter long. In those days, the oxygen level in the atmosphere was higher, which was the reason for the appearance of giant cockroaches and scorpions. Scorpio remains the same sea life, although many of his relatives in those days began to explore land. These creatures became extinct before the dinosaurs; now it is not even clear whether they were truly poisonous. However, the structure of their tail resembles the structure of the same part of the body in scorpions, which makes it possible to assume the attacking function of the tail.
These animals belong to the duck-billed dinosaurs. They lived on the borders of water and land. Maiasaurs could jump into the water to escape predators. These creatures reached 7-9 meters in length, their weight was about 2-3 tons. Maiasaurs lived 80-73 million years ago. Using a flat, wide, toothless beak, the animals plucked vegetation or collected algae. Maiasaura's neck consists of many vertebrae, implying its flexibility. There was a small ridge on the skull. The hind legs were strong, supporting the weight of the body. Mayasaurs could defend themselves with the help of their powerful tail. The animals laid eggs, and babies about half a meter in length emerged from the eggs. Maiasaurs lived in herds, as evidenced by big number skeletons found next to each other.
This creature can be called a real carnivorous tank. Ferocious Predator reached a length of 10 meters, and its body was covered with plates that acted as armor. There is an explanation for this - dunkleosteus hunted both their fellows and other predators. They did not have bones in the usual sense; their role was played by sharp bony ridges, like those of a turtle. But the bite force was 8,000 pounds per square inch, which is comparable to a crocodile bite. The predator's skull was equipped with powerful muscles, which made it possible to pull food inside like a vacuum cleaner in a fraction of a second. The advantage of the dunkleosteus was that the jaws were powerful and fast. The hunter opened his deadly jaws at high speed, capturing his prey with tremendous force. Almost none of the inhabitants of the ocean at that time had a chance to escape. Dunkleosteus - the most dangerous monster in the ocean at that time. These armored fish lived 415-360 million years ago.
This pliosaur is one of the most famous to the public and the largest in this family. For a long time there were disputes about the true size of this inhabitant of the depths. As a result, scientists proved that Kronosaurus reached a length of 10 meters. Moreover, only the skull reached 3 meters. The massive mouth contained a profusion of teeth, up to 11 inches long. Kronosaurus became famous as the “king of the ancient seas” and even the “T-rex of the ocean.” It is no coincidence that the name of the predator was given in honor of Kronos, the king of the Greek titans. Kronosaurus lived in the southern polar seas, which could have been quite cold in those days. For the first time, the remains of an animal were found in Australia. The animal's flippers are somewhat reminiscent of a turtle's. Perhaps kronosaurs crawled ashore to lay their eggs. You can be sure that no one dug their nests, so as not to anger the formidable predator. Kronosaurus lived about 120-100 million years ago.
The length of these sharks reached 9-12 meters. Moreover, their uniqueness lies in the possession of a dental spiral on the lower jaw. Such a formation could reach a diameter of 90 centimeters. A cross between a buzz saw and a shark, it was a real sea horror. The animal's teeth were serrated, implying it was carnivorous. It is not clear where the spiral was located - in the front of the mouth, or deeper. The last option involves a different diet, a softer one (jellyfish). The structure of the body remains unknown. But the fact that Helicoprion was a rather smart creature is beyond doubt. The predator was able to survive the Triassic extinction, possibly due to its habitat in the deep layers of the ocean.
This ancient predator was something between the current killer whale and an ordinary sperm whale. In 2008, the remains of a whale were found that had been hunting other whales. Its teeth were the largest for eating of any animal. Although elephant tusks are larger, this is not what they are designed for. The diameter of the teeth was 12 centimeters, and their length was 36. The body of the ancient sperm whale was up to 17.5 meters long. Interestingly, the sperm whale lived about 13 million years ago, which means it competed in the ocean for prey with megalodon. The head of the predatory whale reached 3 meters in length, there are signs that it contained echolocation organs, like modern toothed whales. Therefore, in conditions muddy water The leviathan could navigate effectively. The animal was named after Leviathan, the biblical sea monster, and also in honor of Herman Melville, the author of the novel “Moby Dick” (it featured a giant sperm whale).
This fish has reached 5 meters in diameter, and it is also poisonous. The stingray is strong enough to pull a boat with people on it. In this case we are talking about a prehistoric super-fish, whose descendants are still hidden in fresh and brackish waters Mekong River and northern Australia. No one here is surprised by two-meter stingrays weighing three centners. These fish are already several million years old, the structure of their body has allowed them to stay alive. Giant fish were able to survive even glacial period. For its size and unusual appearance, the stingray received the name “ sea devil" In the front of the body there are small eyes, behind them are gills and a toothed mouth. Interestingly, there is a sensitive area on the skin around the mouth and nose that allows the stingray to detect electrical and magnetic fields other living beings. This makes it much easier to find food. U freshwater predator There is terrible weapon- 2 powerful and sharp spikes on the tail. The largest of them acts as a harpoon, easily entering the victim and being held inside by the barbs. The force of the impact is so great that even the bottom of the boat cannot withstand it. The length of the spike reaches 38 centimeters. The second spike is smaller, it is intended for injecting poison. This substance is deadly to humans. The stingray feeds on fish, shellfish and invertebrates. Female stingrays are viviparous.
