Sea Monster Pictures, Protosphyraena Photos, Facts, Animals Reports, News, Info

In 2006 amateur fossil hunters discovered a well-preserved Protosphyraena snout in Australia, which is the first time the fish has been found south of the Equator. It is also one of the earliest known examples of Protosphyraena.

Fast Facts

Type:: Prehistoric
Diet:: Carnivore
Size:: Length, 8 ft (2.4 m)
Protection status:: Extinct
Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m) man:

Protosphyraena was a medium-size predatory fish of the Late Cretaceous seas with a long swordlike snout and bladelike teeth positioned to stab fleeing prey. What's more, one of these ancient fish had long, bony pectoral fins with leading edges serrated like saw blades. While the exact purpose of these sawlike fins is a matter of scientific debate, no doubt this fish was armed with lots of potentially offensive weaponry.

Fully grown adult Protosphyraena averaged between six and nine feet (two and three meters) long, an unremarkable stature in oceans ruled by mosasaurs and plesiosaurs that grew more than 35 feet (11 meters) long.

Complete skeletons of Protosphyraena are rare, which may suggests that either scavengers devoured them or the corpses drifted as they decayed and fell apart. Like some Late Cretaceous sea monsters, Protosphyraenamost likely went extinct 65 million years ago.

Prehistoric Features

Digging Up Sea Monsters

Follow the blog from the Spitsbergen Expedition as they unearth "sea monsters″ from the Upper Jurassic Period 150 million years ago.
Photo Gallery: Sea Monsters

Get a glimpse of what prehistoric sea creatures may have looked like millions of years ago.
Flying Monsters 3D" class="">
Flying Monsters 3D">Flying Monsters 3D

Could flying monsters have existed? With cutting-edge 3-D filming technology and CGI, Flying Monsters 3D recreates spectacular pterosaurs and brings these giant flying creatures to life.
Bizarre Dinosaurs

A bizarre gallery of Mesozoic monsters prompts John Updike to ask: What has evolution wrought?

Please select a test to run

On Nat Geo WILD

TV Schedule »

Animal News

Animals

The Innovators Project

Alan Guth: Waiting for the Big Bang

Three decades ago, the innovative physicist had a eureka moment that explained the universe.

See more innovators »

Special Ad Section

Animal News

From the Magazine

Gannets Pictures

Champion divers but clumsy landers, doting parents but hostile neighbors—northern gannets abound in contradictions.
Estonia's Ural Owls

Photographer Sven Začek provides an intimate view of this large raptor.