Remains of of Massive Jurassic 'Sea Monster' Found in a Polish Cornfield

[Judi Lynn]

By Mindy Weisberger - Senior Writer 10 hours ago Animals

The beast had a bite more powerful than that of T. rex.

Paleontologists in Poland recently unearthed the jaws and teeth of a monstrous pliosaur, an ancient marine reptile with a bite more powerful than that of Tyrannosaurus rex.

Pliosaurs, the biggest of the Jurassic period's ocean predators, lived around 150 million years ago. Researchers found fossils of this enormous carnivore in a cornfield in the Polish village of Krzyżanowice in the Holy Cross Mountains, along with several hundred bones of crocodile relatives, ancient turtles and long-necked plesiosaurs — cousins of pliosaurs — according to a new study.

Jurassic pliosaur fossils have been found in only a few European countries, and this is the first time bones of the massive marine predator have emerged in Poland, lead study author Daniel Tyborowski, a paleontologist with the Polish Academy of Sciences' Museum of the Earth in Warsaw, said in a statement.

A limestone block found at the site in Poland held cone-shaped teeth and fragments of an upper and lower jaw that the scientists identified as belonging to a pliosaur, dating between 145 million and 163 million years ago. The biggest tooth measured about 3 inches (68 millimeters) from crown to tip. Another large, isolated tooth — also thought to belong to a pliosaur — measured about 2 inches (57 mm) in length, according to the study.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/ancient-sea-monster-pliosaur-fossils.html

[NBachers]

1. Just imagine- The last thing you see is one of these things rising up from the depths to eat you.