The fossil of a giant enormous sea creature has been discovered in Morocco. The creature lived in the Cretaceous period and its fossil was found next to the remains of its last supper, according to a report from Newsweek.
The enormous marine reptile, known by the name Thalassotitan atrox, was supposed to be a mosasaur that lived approximately 66 million years ago, close to the catastrophic asteroid-caused end of the Cretaceous period.
A study announcing the discovery of the fossil was published on August 24 in the journal Cretaceous Research. According to the authors, the Thalassotitans were the leading ocean predators. They used to hunt a variety of other sea creatures and were about 40 feet long.
Dr Nick Longrich, senior lecturer from the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath and lead author of the study said, "Thalassotitan was an amazing, terrifying animal." He also said that, "Imagine a komodo dragon crossed with a great white shark crossed with a T rex crossed with a killer whale."
The mosasaurs were actually the enormous lizards, and not dinosaurs, but were indirectly linked to contemporary iguanas. They could reach lengths of 40 feet and hunted a variety of different marine creatures. They were the top predators in the oceans, Newsweek further said.
"They ate a lot of stuff. Mostly they're probably eating stuff like fish and squid. Some of them have crushing teeth, so probably stuff like clams, sea urchins, crustaceans and ammonites. This one ate other marine reptiles," Dr Longrich told Newsweek.
This unique fossil was discovered in the Oulad Abdoun Basin of the Khouribga Province of Morocco, and it was surrounded by what might have been its victims.
According to Newsweek, at least three separate mosasaur species' jaws and skulls were discovered, along with enormous predatory fish, a sea turtle, a plesiosaur head that was nearly half a metre in length, and other surrounding fossils with acid damage to their teeth and bone.
This supports the researcher's hypothesis that they were consumed by the Thalassotitan, digested in its stomach, and then spit out as simple bones.
