The Deadliest Marine Reptiles
Today, the most dangerous creatures in the ocean are sharks, but also some whales and fish - but that was not the case tens of millions of years ago, when the ocean was dominated by pliosaurs, ichthyosaurs, mosasaurs, and occasionally snakes, turtles, and crocodiles. In this article, you'll encounter marine reptiles that can swallow great white sharks almost whole - and other more vulnerable predators, with hungry piranhas looking like a nasty swarm next to them.
Kronosaurus
Named after Cronos - the ancient Greek god who tried to eat his own child - Cronus was perhaps the most terrifying pliosaur of all time. At 33 feet long and weighing 7 tons, it didn't match the mass of its close relative, Liliodon, but it was slimmer and probably faster. As proper vertebrates at the top of the Early Cretaceous food chain, pliosaurs like Crosaurus could eat just about anything. From gentle jellyfish to large sharks and other marine reptiles.
Liopleurodon
A few years ago, a 75-foot, 100-ton Liliodon emerged from the sea on the BBC's "Walking With Dinosaurs" program, swallowing a passing Eustreptospondylus. Well, there's no need to exaggerate: in real life, Liroodon was "only" about 40 feet from end to end and weighed a maximum of 25 tons. But that doesn't matter to the unfortunate fish and squid, because this voracious pliosaur, like many dates and rosettes, was sucked in at the end of the Jurassic period 150 million years ago.
Dakosaurus
It sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie: A team of paleontologists unearthed the skull of a vicious marine reptile high in the Andes, and they were so terrified of the fossil that they dubbed it "Godzilla ". That's exactly what happened to Dakosaurus, a one-ton early Cretaceous saltwater crocodile that had a dinosaur-like head and a pair of rough fins. Sure, Dakosaurus wasn't the fastest reptile to roam the Mesozoic seas, but it did eat quite a few ichthyosaurs and pliosaurs, including perhaps some of the other sea creatures on this list.
Shonisaurus
Sometimes a marine reptile just needs its size to achieve "most wanted" status. With only a few teeth in the front of its narrow nose, Shonisaurus cannot be called a killing machine. What makes this ichthyosaur ("lizardfish") really dangerous is its 30-ton weight and almost ridiculously bulky torso. Imagine this Late Triassic predator running through a school of Saurichthys, gobbling up all 9 or 10 fish and leaving the rest behind, and you'll see why we included it in this list.
Archelon
People don't usually use the words "turtle" and "deadly" in the same sentence, but in Archelon's case, you might want an exception. The 12-foot-tall, 2-ton prehistoric sea turtle roamed the Western Interior Sea (the shallow body of water that covers what is now the western United States) during the late Cretaceous period, crushing squid and crustaceans with its massive beak. What made the Archelon particularly dangerous was its soft, flexible carapace and unusually large fins, which may have made it almost as fast and agile as contemporary mosasaurs.
Cryptoclidus
One of the largest Mesozoic plesiosaurs – the long-necked, slender proboscis, a contemporary of the more compact and deadly Pliosaur – was an especially formidable apex predator in the shallow seas bordering western Europe. What gives this marine reptile an added threat is its sinister name, which actually refers to an obscure anatomical feature ("well-hidden collarbone," if you must know). Late Jurassic fish and crustaceans had another name meaning "Oh shit - run!"