Strophodus was a 10 foot long hybodont shark which specialized in eating shellfish. It appeared during the early Jurassic Period and went extinct during the early Cretaceous Period, making it one of the longest-lived shark genera in the fossil record…. Read More ›
Jurassic Period
Peloneustes
Peloneustes was a 13 foot long pliosaur which swam in the sea around England during the middle of the Jurassic Period 165 million years ago. The first specimen of this animal was found near the city of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England… Read More ›
Cricosaurus
Cricosaurus was a genus of 5-10 foot long marine crocodylomorphs which swam in the shallow seas around Mexico, Argentina, and Germany from the late Jurassic Period to the early Cretaceous Period, approximately 152-132 million years ago. Cricosarus belonged to a… Read More ›
Cryptoclidus
Cryptoclidus was a 15 foot long plesiosaur which inhabited the prehistoric Tethys Sea, which once covered much of Europe, during the middle of the Jurassic Period 165-160 million years ago. Fossils of Cryptoclidus have been found within southern England and… Read More ›
Dakosaurus
There were numerous kinds of marine reptiles which swam in the oceans during the Mesozoic Era, including the ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and mosasaurs. Less well known are the marine crocodilians, or more accurately, crocodylomorphs. These animals are known as the thalattosuchians,… Read More ›
Pliosaurus
We all know that dinosaurs walked the earth in prehistoric times, and many of us are also aware that pterosaurs flew across the skies and fearsome marine reptiles swam in the oceans. Some of these marine reptiles (which weren’t dinosaurs,… Read More ›
Kepodactylus
NOTE: This article was originally published on August 3, 2023. It was substantially revised on February 3, 2026. Kepodactylus was a pterosaur which lived in western North America during the late Jurassic Period 155-152 million years ago. In 1992, a nearly-complete Stegosaurus skeleton… Read More ›
Synechodus
Synechodus was a genus of prehistoric saltwater shark which lived from the early Permian Period until the late Eocene Epoch of the Paleogene Period, 290 to 37 million years ago (Ivanov 2005, pages 127-138). Fossils of this animal reached around… Read More ›
Goniopholis: The Typical Mesozoic Crocodile
Dinosaurs ruled the land during the Mesozoic Era, but crocodiles and their relatives unquestionably ruled the water. Prehistoric crocodiles are usually relegated to the background as supporting actors or extras in our imagined Mesozoic dramas, but the truth is that… Read More ›
Leedsichthys
Leedsichthys was a very large prehistoric saltwater fish which lived during the middle and late Jurassic Period, circa 165-150 million years ago. It was named in 1889 in honor of Alfred N. Leeds who found the first specimen. Leedsichthys belonged… Read More ›
DINOSAURS AND BARBARIANS 