Re: Sea reptile is biggest on record

[wwahl2@aol.com]

We have large dense amounts of belemnite hooklets in our pliosaur 
specimen. Perhaps it was the snack food of the Jurassic, squid 
Mcnuggets.


Thanks, Bill Wahl

Paleontologist/Preparation Lab Manager. The guy that works on all the 
non-dinosaur stuff.
The OSHA approved cleaner of the lab refrigerator. Official wasp nest 
remover. He who chooses the bathroom air freshener scent.
307-864-2997-ext-234
Wyoming Dinosaur Center
110 Carter Ranch Road Thermopolis, Wyoming. 82443


-----Original Message-----
From: Colin McHenry <cmchenry@westserv.net.au>
To: dinosaur@usc.edu
Sent: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 4:13 pm
Subject: Re: Sea reptile is biggest on record


Dann Pigdon wrote:Â
> Tim Williams writes:Â
> > Any ideas on what these mega-pliosaurs ate?Â
> Â
> Anything they wanted to. :)Â
Â
Something like that, although I think you need to frame the question in 
terms of what sort of prey might have been available. Kronosaurus is 
the largest animal in its fauna, so while the ability to munch other 
marine reps may sound impressive, it doesn't necessarily put it in the 
same league as a Balaenoptera-munching killer whale.Â
Â
The possibility that some of these M-L Jurrasic pliosaurs where able to 
take big fish like Leedsichthys is intriguing - at least they'd be 
picking on something their own size - but I have no idea if there's 
anything like Leedsichthys in the Kimmeridgian / Volgian, which is when 
these 12-15m pliosaurs seem to be mostly from.Â
Â
Actually, I think the question of minimum prey size in these animals is 
at least as important as the maximum prey size. But I'm just writing 
that chapter in my thesis... ;-)Â
Â
CheersÂ
ColÂ
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-- Colin McHenryÂ
Computation Biomechanics Research Group http://www.compbiomech.com/Â;
School of Engineering (Mech Eng)Â
University of NewcastleÂ
NSW 2308Â
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t: +61 2 4921 8879Â
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