A vast and incredibly well maintain fossilized tooth belong to a ferocious congener of extant crocodiles has been described in the journalHistorical Biology . The tooth , which was drag from the seafloor near Chesil Beach , Dorset , England , belongs to an ancient maritime predator known asDakosaurus maximus .
Dakosaurus , which means “ tearing lizard ” , was a carnivore that in all probability pass most , if not all , of its life in the sea . They had declamatory , serrated teeth but unlike modern day crocodiles they possess a finned bottom , meaning they were more efficient natator than today ’s crocs . D. maximuswas around4.5 metersin length and resided in shallow European sea some 152 million year ago .
effigy credit : Dmitry Bogdanov . Artist ’s impression of Dakosaurus maximus .
The paleontologists that key the tooth were from the University of Edinburgh and the Natural History Museum in London . They develop the tooth after it was purchased online by a fossil collector .
Although the tooth was more or less chip , in general it was very well preserved . It ’s around 5.5 atomic number 96 long , making it thelargest knownBritish specimen of the genusDakosaurus . The skull and teeth of this predator are similar to that of modern daytime false Orcinus orca giant and were suit to bothswallowing whole fishand chomping on large prey detail into diminished bits .
“ Given its size , Dakosaurushad very bombastic tooth . However , it was n’t the top marine piranha of its clip , and would have swum alongside other big marine reptiles , make the shallow seas of the Late Jurassic period exceptionally grave , ” said lead authorDr Mark Youngfrom the University of Edinburgh .
The fossil was found from a World Heritage Site in the UK known as theJurassic Coastwhich stretch across 95 miles of coastline from Devon to Dorset . The rocks in this area go back 185 million yr , traverse the Triassic , Jurassic and Cretaceous periods . Fossils are therefore frequently found in this area , although normally they ’re found washed up on the coast or within stone as opposed to the seafloor .
