After 205 million years, the 54-meter “sea dragon” appeared on the top of the mountain more than 2,700 m .

According to the news agency Reuters, A team of scientists led by paleontologist Martin Sander from the University of Bonn (Germany) discovered three fossils dating back up to 205 million years, belonging to the Triassic period, belonging to a line of floating marine reptiles. in ichthyosaurs, meaning “fish lizard” or “fishing dragon”.

Artist’s graphic depicting a portrait of the dreaded “sea dragon” of the Triassic period. Photo: REUTERS

They are called “fish dragons”, or “sea dragons”, because of their very strange bodies: they look like a scary monster whale, but inside they are reptiles. They are extremely dangerous predators in the oceans of the Triassic – Jurassic – Cretaceous.

Three “sea dragons” appear in turn at 3 different peaks of the Alps. The first and second fossils consist of ribs and vertebrae that computational models reveal when alive they were 21 and 15 m long, respectively. The third one has only one tooth 15 cm long and 6 cm wide, revealing it must have been 54 meters long when it was alive!

Thus, these three individuals “elevated” the ichthyosaur to become one of the largest of the “sea dinosaurs” at the time this monster family dominated the planet.

“This tooth is particularly interesting because it may – although it is not certain – represents the largest animal ever to have existed on Earth,” wrote Dr. Journal of Vertebrate Panleontology.

The Martin Sanders and Michael Hautmann families hunt for ancient monsters on a mountainside in the Alps – Photo: REUTERS

The largest ichthyosaur reigns on the top of the Chrachenhorn mountain near Davos – Switzerland. Its size is inferred from a more complete, 18-meter-long ichthyosaur fossil described last year. This 18 m ichthyosaur has a tooth with a base 2 cm wide, very small compared to the 6 cm wide and 15 cm long tooth that scientists have just unearthed.

The large “sea dragons” are killers of sperm whales, giant squid, large fish, and even ichthyosaurs and smaller marine reptiles in the oceans teeming with ancient beasts.

The cause of sea monsters fossilized all the way to the top of the mountain is believed to be the process of Earth’s plate tectonics, in which tectonic plates (which can be roughly understood as pieces of the earth’s crust) are constantly shifting, morphing the continents and oceans it carried above.

A patch of the Triassic ocean after 205 million years has turned into the Alps, giving the opportunity for the monster it has so painstakingly preserved to appear to the world once again.