Pliosaurus Size report
Pliosaurus is an extinct marine reptile belonging to the pliosauridae family that lived in the Late Jurassic period, about 200-145 million years ago. Pliosaurus were large, advanced predators in the ocean that ate fish, squid, and other marine reptiles.
Pliosaurus was the first to be discovered in the pliosaur family, mainly contributed by Richard Owen. He found the first Pliosaurus fossil in 1841 and named it the Pliosaurus. A giant skull fossil of Pliosaurus was exhibited at the Dorset Museum in the United Kingdom, reaching a length of 0.4 meters. A sea monster with a stubby neck and an astonishingly large mouth the size of a crocodile, Pliosaurus was a ferocious sea master with a mouth full of sharp teeth.
The more famous pliosauridae reptiles include Liopleurodon and Kronosaurus. The largest known pliosaur is the Svalbard pliosaur, found on Svalbard Island near the Arctic Circle. According to its fossil remains, it is estimated that there are more than 10 meters. Fossils of Pliosaurus have been found in England, Mexico, South America, Australia, and the Arctic near Norway. The following post will share more interesting facts about Pliosauruss' growth size and living habits.
Pliosaurus Size And Appearance
Pliosaurus is an extinct marine reptile that evolved from Plesiosaurs. But the Pliosaurus had a shorter neck, a longer head, a more rigid jaw, and a more streamlined appearance. Paleontologists believe that Pliosaurus were extremely ferocious carnivores. Comparing the skull of the Pliosaurus with the crocodile, you will know very clearly: the Pliosaurus has a huge head, a short neck, long sharp teeth like a scimitar, and the cross-sectional area of its muscles is several times larger than that of a crocodile. They are master swimmers, with flippers and a whip-shaped tail helping them navigate the waves. The Pliosaurus were even more swift and fierce when they hunted their prey.
Average Size of Pliosaurus
With the size of a large Pliosaurus and its powerful bite force, it is enough to bite a small car in one bite. According to its fossil remains, it is speculated that the body length of an adult Pliosaurus is about 10-15 meters, slightly smaller than the largest vertebrate, the blue whale. Some species are up to 10 meters long, with skulls approximately 2 meters long. Adult Protoceratops weighed around 5-10 tons in body mass.
| Quick Facts | |
|---|---|
| Type | marine reptile |
| Diet | Carnivore |
| When it lived | Kimmeridgian to Tithonian of the Jurassic |
| How it moved | swim |
| Overall Length | 10-15 m |
| Average Weight | 5-10 tons |
Final Words
Pliosaurus was a plesiosaur, a type of marine reptile. It was not a dinosaur, though it coexisted with many dinosaurs. Pliosaurus was on the top layer of marine carnivores during the Jurassic period. It mainly ate marine reptiles and preyed on large quantities of squid, fish, and other aquatic carnivores. It probably swam at a fairly slow pace, but it would have been an excellent swimmer, similar to modern whales. This animal blended with the dark depths of the ocean.
