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The second largest prehistoric pinniped is Gomphotaria pugnax with a skull length of nearly 47 cm (19 in). [155] One of the largest of prehistoric otariids is Thalassoleon, comparable in size to the biggest extant fur seals. An estimated weight of T. mexicanus is no less than 295–318 kg (650–701 lb). [158]
Researchers have uncovered fossils of giant predator worms, some of Earth’s earliest carnivorous animals that roamed the seas 518 million years ago.
Today only 11 species can be confidently identified as representing Ordovician eurypterids. These taxa fall into two distinct ecological categories; large and active predators from the ancient continent of Laurentia, and demersal (living on the seafloor) and basal animals from the continents Avalonia and Gondwana. [50]
They were pursuit predators [84] or ambush predators of various sized prey and opportunistic feeders; their teeth could be used to pierce soft-bodied prey, especially fish. [85] Their heads and teeth were very large, suited to grab and rip apart large animals. Their morphology allowed for a high swimming speed. They too hunted visually.
Fearsome top predator of the seas. The nearly intact fossil illuminates the characteristics that made the pliosaur a truly fearsome predator, hunting prey such as the dolphinlike ichthyosaur.The ...
Since 1959, a second enigmatic group of ancient sea reptiles is known, the Hupehsuchia. ... Stenopterygius, and the large predator Temnodontosaurus. ...
First phase of the Tethys Ocean's forming: the (first) Tethys Sea starts dividing Pangaea into two supercontinents, Laurasia and Gondwana.. The Tethys Ocean (/ ˈ t iː θ ɪ s, ˈ t ɛ-/ TEETH-iss, TETH-; Greek: Τηθύς Tēthús), also called the Tethys Sea or the Neo-Tethys, was a prehistoric ocean during much of the Mesozoic Era and early-mid Cenozoic Era.
The dugong (/ ˈ d (j) uː ɡ ɒ ŋ /; Dugong dugon) is a marine mammal.It is one of four living species of the order Sirenia, which also includes three species of manatees.It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its closest modern relative, Steller's sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas), was hunted to extinction in the 18th century.