Jurassic monster revealed

Scientists have discovered the fossil of a giant monster with fish reptiles in a 150 million-year-old Jurassic cemetery on the island off Norway.

The Norwegian team found the bodies of a total of 28 plesiosaurs and sea turtles - the top marine predators when dinosaurs ruled the ground - at the island of Spitsbergen, 1,300 km from the North Pole.

"Among them was a giant monster, with vertebrae as big as a plate and teeth as big as cucumbers," said Joern Hurum, at the University of Oslo. "We believe that this skeleton has remained the same until now and is about 10 meters long. It is a form of plesiosaur with a short neck and a great skull."

The mound lizards are known for traces discovered in many places like England and Argentina, but no complete skeletons have been found. The skull of this mound lizard is the largest ever.

Sketching a picture of "sea monster" (Photo: nationalgeographic.com)

The plesiosaurs swim with 2 large fins and often hunt for smaller lizards. All extinct at the same time dinosaurs disappeared on Earth about 65 million years ago.

Scientists evaluate this fossil cemetery as one of the most important areas to study marine lizards that have been discovered in recent decades.

MT