The giant creature lived in a superocean about 246 million years ago. The fossil of the giant animal was first discovered in 1998 in a mountainous area in the US state of Nevada. It took until 2015 for the fossil to be exhumed, and for it to be examined until today.
Paleontologists discovered only the remains of a “sea monster”, the length of the skull of which reached two meters. About 246 million years ago, during the Triᴀssic period, the total size of the body of the giant animal reached 17 meters.
According to the researchers, this marine reptile, whose Latin name is Cymbospondylus youngorum, was actually a species of ichthyosaur. Ichthyosaurs, which are likened to sharks or dolphins in terms of their appearance, were among the creatures that dominated the oceans during the Mesozoic Era, which began 251 million years ago and ended 66 million years ago.
IT QUICKLY GREW TO ENORMOUS PROPORTIONS
On the other hand, the gigantic size of the newly identified species showed that ichthyosaurs rapidly grew large and reached enormous sizes in just 2.5 million years of their total lifespan.
Previously discovered fossils revealed that the oldest relative of the new species 2.5 million years ago did not reach a meter in length. This enlargement marks an extremely short period of time from an evolutionary point of view.
The authors of the study, published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Science, believe that this rapid development was triggered by the Permian-Triᴀssic Extinction, which occurred 251.4 million years ago.
“LIFE CAN COME BACK”
According to the findings, this giant species appeared about 248 million years ago, just after the mᴀss extinction, and became extinct 90 million years ago.
Lars Schmitz, one of the authors of the study, said: “We discovered that ichthyosaurs reached gigantic sizes much faster than whales during the period when the world was recovering from a catastrophic extinction.
“It’s a glimmer of hope and a sign of life’s resilience. If the environmental conditions are right, evolution can happen very quickly and life can come back.”
A study published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Nature Geoscience in 2012 found that it took about 9 million years for the Earth to recover from this extinction. The event, which led to the extinction of 96 percent of all marine species and 70 percent of vertebrate species on land, is also known as the “Great Dying”.
“IMAGINE AN ANIMAL LIKE A SEA DRAGON”
The gigantic size of Cymbospondylus youngorum, which appeared just 5 million years after the ‘Great Dying’, is therefore all the more impressive. The animal, which is thought to weigh up to 45 tons, lived in the Panthalᴀssic Ocean, which existed at the time, off the west coast of present-day North America.
When this animal dominated the waters, the continents had not yet separated, and the Panthalᴀssic was a super-ocean surrounding the unified landmᴀss.
According to the information conveyed by Independent Turkish; These air-breathing animals, such as dolphins and whales, had a streamlined body that allowed them to move through the water, large eyes that allowed for better visibility at depths, jaws full of cone-shaped teeth, and an elongated skull suitable for catching fish or squid.
“Imagine an animal like a sea dragon: a streamlined body, very long limbs that have turned into fins, and a long tail,” Schmitz said.
“This new fossil impressively documents the rapid evolution of ichthyosaurs’ giant sizes.”
