SCIENCE LAB. SCORES : AN ANCIENT SEA MONSTER

 

WITH serpentine necks flippers and a mouth full of needle-sharp teeth, plesiosaurus have captured imaginations since paleontologists uncovered the first specimen over two centuries ago.

Their skeletal anatomy is well documented, but their external appearances has largely remained a mystery.

Now researchers have conducted their first detailed analysis of plesiosaur soft tissue,  offering a more complete look at what these real-life sea monsters might have looked like when they lived from 215 million to 66 million years ago.

Published in Current Biology, the findings suggest that some plesiosaurs had humanlike skin on their flippers, similar to the features of  some living sea turtle species.

The research highlights an evolutionary detour that runs counter to other marine reptiles like ichthyosaurs, which evolved away from scales, to allow them to move more efficiently through their marine habitats.

'' These are iconic animals, and the way we reconstruct them hasn't changed for nearly 200 years, so this is a big update,'' said Miguel Marx, a doctoral student at Lund University of Sweden and lead author of the paper.

''It changes our perspective on their evolutionary history and how they adapted to life in the ocean.''

This subject Publishing continues to Part [2]. The World Students Society thanks Sara Novak.