This mega sea predator lived 170 million years ago and gobbled up everything in sight, says study

Scientists have found a new mega predator, a Jurassic giant who topped the food chain for 80 million years.

According to a study published inScientific Reports, Lorrainosaurus had a 4.3-foot-long jaw and torpedo-shaped body. It belonged to the clade of pliosaurs called Thalassophonea or sea murderers, which existed 170 million years ago.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Researchers first found the sea monster's fossils in 1983. However, the new study, published on Oct 16, re-analyses the remains of the predator. The study's authors told Live Science it belonged to a previously unknown species, representing the oldest "mega predatory" pliosaur recorded.

Daniel Madzia, the study's co-author and a palaeontologist with the Institute of Paleobiology at the Polish Academy of Sciences, said, "Pliosaurids were the rulers of the Mesozoic seas. We are at the very beginning of a fascinating evolutionary history that we don't understand yet."

ALSO READ |A canister containing asteroid samples is giving NASA a hard time. Here's why

The research team excavated the fossils from the former region of Lorraine in northeastern France. A study from 1994,published in Bulletin des Académie et Société Lorraine des Sciencesand written by Pascal Godefroit, assigned the species to a genus of pliosaurs called Simolestes and called it S. keileni.

However, thenew study found striking differences between S. keileni and other Simolestes, like broader splenials (bones in the lower jaw).

Moreover, the sea monster's mandible (the skull's most prominent and vital bone) was at least a foot longer than other Simolestes species.

Lorrainosaurus dined on sharks, sea turtles, and other plesiosaurs. "It ate whatever it wanted to eat. It was one of the largest marine predators of its time," Madzia said.

ALSO READ |Giant solar storm to hit Earth on Oct 24. Here's how to protect yourself

The research team created the genus Lorrainosaurus to give the creature its place on the pliosaur evolutionary tree. L. keileni's re-study pushed back the rise of massive predatory pliosaurs by up to five million years, said Madzia.

It might not be a significant number in geological timescales. But it implies they existed right after the Jurassic food chain pivoted around 175 million years ago. It saw the plunge in the population of apex predators, like dolphin-like ichthyosaurs, and the rise of pliosaurs.

The average length of an L. keileni was over 20 feet. However, the sea murderers could grow up to 50 feet long.

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE