Bus-Size Sea Monster Found, Took On Prey Its Own Size
Thalattoarchon saurophagis had large, sharp teeth, recent excavations show.
The bus-size beast was an early ichthyosaur, part of a group of reptiles that prowled the world's seas during the dinosaur era.
The Thalattoarchon fossil, partially excavated in 1998, was unusually well preserved, including the skull, fins, and entire vertebral column. "It is pretty amazing, particularly for an animal this size," said Fröbisch, who is also a National Geographic explorer. (National Geographic News is part of the National Geographic Society.)
But more compelling to Fröbisch were reports of the animal's fearsome teeth, briefly spotted on the last day of the 1998 expedition.
So, in 2010, Fröbisch and colleagues returned to the Nevada site to dig up the rest of the fossil. In the process, the scientists discovered an enormous skull and jaw-laden
