A new Science study describes the 244-million-year-old remains of a new and very large species of ichthyosaur that appears to be the first ocean giant. The creature is estimated to have been more than 18 meters long when alive. Learn more:
The largest animals to have ever lived occupied the marine environment. Modern cetaceans evolved their large size over tens of millions of years in response to the increased productivity of cold marine waters. However, whales were not the first marine giants to evolve. Sander. describe a 244-million-year-old fossil ichthyosaur that would have rivaled modern cetaceans in size .
At present, this is the largest known tetrapod of its time, on land or in the sea, and is the first in a series of ocean giants. The Fossil Hill Fauna includes several other large-bodied ichthyosaurs in theradiation. The body-size range in this Triassic fauna rivals the range seen in modern whale faunas, from a total length of about 2 m into more than 17 m in the new species.
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