Landlocked Mermaid

Ancient Seas Photo from Curiosity Helicoprion Helicoprion is an extinct shark, which lived 290 to 250 million years ago. This was during the Early Miocene to the Late Pliocene. They were found in oceans across the globe. It is believed they ate squid. "Helicoprion" means spiral saw. Can you guess why? Yep, because of that impressive jawline. They were discovered by Russian Andrzej P. Karpinski, in 1889. Only its teeth have fossilised, because soft tissues and cartilage do not fossilise. The spiral shape caused much confusion at the time of discovery! It is now widely agreed that they went in the shark's mouth, though it had been postulated that they were attached to the shark's fin! Although referred to as a "shark", helicoprion is more likely to have been a chimaera which was a cartilaginous fish. They grew up to 7.5m (25ft) and weighed 453.5kg (1,000lbs). The helicoprion survived a mass extinction which wiped out 90% of marine life a...

Ancient Seas #1 Megalodon Photo from Sharkipedia The megalodon was probably the largest predator to have ever lived - we haven't found one bigger yet. It is larger than the whale shark. Their teeth were over twice the size of great white's teeth. Recent discoveries of megalodon nurseries have led scientists to believe they gave birth in shallow waters. Ancient Seas #2 Sarcosuchus Photo from IMDb Its name, Sarcosuchus, means fleshy crocodile. It was twelve feet longer than modern saltwater crocodile. Their home became the Sahara desert. Ancient Seas #3 Plesiosaurus   Photo from ThoughtCo It is postulated that they laid their eggs upon land like the sea turtle. Their teeth were designed to catch prey, not chew. They swallowed their prey whole. Their long necks were supported by 40 vertebrae. Ancient Seas #4 Hybodus Photo from ThoughtCo The hybodus shark species survived on the planet ten times longer than the av...

Hybodus Photo from New Dinosaurs Kingdom: Animalia Class: Choridricthyes Conservation Status: Extinct (EX) Found: Worldwide Era: Permian - Cretaceous Lived: 303.4 million - 66 million years ago Diet: Everything. Weight: 90.7kg (200lbs) Size: 2m (6.6ft) Habitat: Shallow seas The Hybodus is an ancient shark species which lived up until 66 million years ago. Unlike most sharks, these species were around for well over 200 million years. This is over ten times the average span of shark species as they are usually around between 10-20 million years. This was a successful shark, living through the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous eras. Considering that it shared waters with plesiosaurs and mosasaurus who were both big predators; this is very impressive. It is not really known why they even went extinct. In appearance, Hybodus are your classic shark. They have the seven fins, the streamline body, the cartilage skeleton... the list goes on. They ...