When the dinosaurs were ruling the land, other giant reptiles dominated the oceans. They included the ichthyosaurs, a group of reptiles that bore a strong resemblance to dolphins. They cut through the prehistoric oceans with streamlined bodies, flat flippers and powerful fluked tails. They gave birth to live young in the water. They snapped at fish and squid with pointed snouts, full of conical teeth.

But one of them was different. Shastasurus is a very different type of ichthyosaur. It has a very small head, a short snout and, most importantly, no teeth at all.

Martin Sander from the University of Bonn thinks that it was the black sheep of the family. It couldn’t have bitten its prey like other