Got a 55 feet tall sea monster?

A team of scientists in America has discovered a sea monster from the time of dinosaurs. The length of this creature has been seen up to 55 feet. The size of the head of this creature has been measured to be 6.5 feet. The name of this creature is ichthyosaur, which is a type of marine fish. Research has shown that the size of these fish-sized marine reptiles increased very rapidly about 240 million years ago.

Senior researcher Lars Schmitz, associate professor of biology at Scripps College in California, said in his study that ichthyosaurs increased their size much faster than whales. That too at a time when creatures like dinosaurs were rapidly becoming extinct from the earth.
Researchers first discovered ancient ichthyosaur fossils in 1998 in the rocks of Augusta Mountains in northwestern Nevada. Some of these bones were found protruding out of the rocks. Scientists inferred from this that the size of this creature was quite huge.

The report, published on 23 December in the famous journal Science, states that these fossils were taken to the Natural Science Museum in Los Angeles. Scientists made a 3D model of this creature and analyzed the fossils. The team has named the new species Cymbospondylus yangorum. This large jawed marine reptile lived 240 million years ago during the Triassic period.

A full grown Cymbospondylus yangorum has measured up to 55 feet in length. During its survival, the weight of this creature was up to 45 tons. Looking at its size and length of teeth, scientists estimate that it used to eat small fish.