Dinosaur-age 'nightmarish' sea lizard fossil found

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Image source, Andrey Atuchin/University of Bath/PA Wire

By Sofia Ferreira SantosBBC News

Scientists say they have discovered fossils belonging to a “nightmarish” sea lizard species that hunted the oceans 66 million years ago.

The creature, Khinjaria acuta, was about 26ft (8m) long – the same as an orca – and had “dagger-like” teeth.

Researchers said the species would have lived alongside dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus Rex and Triceratops.

The study is based on analysis of a skull and other skeletal remains found at a mine in Morocco.

Dr Nick Longrich from the University of Bath, who led the study, wrote that the “freakish” species had “a demon’s face and teeth like knives.”

Its teeth and strong jaw gave the creature a “nightmarish appearance” and “a terrible biting force”, researchers said.

It also led the team onto finding the perfect name for the species.

“The word khinjar being an Arabic word for “dagger”, and acuta being Latin for “sharp”, so literally, “sharp dagger” or “sharp knife””, Dr Longrich added.

Image source, Nick Longrich/University of Bath/PA Wire

Khinjaria acuta is a member of a family of giant marine lizards known as mosasaurs, distant relatives of today’s Komodo dragons and anacondas.

Researchers believe the lizard was just one out of a range of top predators that inhabited the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Morocco.

“This is one of the most diverse marine faunas seen anywhere, at any time in history, and it existed just before the marine reptiles and the dinosaurs went extinct,”

The post Dinosaur-age 'nightmarish' sea lizard fossil found appeared first on EnviroLink Network.

Dinosaur-age 'nightmarish' sea lizard fossil found

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