[Article]: Tusoteuthis and the Cretaceous Giant Squids

Interesting article, Phil. Choking on a Tusoteuthis, that's quite a way to go, haha. Reminds me of a time I got a Skittle caught in my throat--ended up collapsing on the floor and nearly asphyxiating before a group of my bewildered friends. I think that would have earned me a place in history, alongside Mr. Cimolychthys 8)
 
Great job Phil :notworth: :notworth: :notworth: :notworth: :notworth:

Nice drawings, I thought you were just a Photo Shop artist, looks like you were born with a pencil in your hand :smile:

A few questions, would the fact that most of the sediment entering the western interior sea came from the west, be why most of the squid fossils are found on the eastern side? Do squid have an aversion to turbid water? Or was it because the sea was deeper on the eastern side (limestone and marl in the eastern part, shale and silt in my little corner)?
 
WTG Idaho ! whoop whoop, hi :thumbsup:
That should make a few sperm whales reconsider their self importance !
I for one had never considered the possibility of mortal combat between the pliosaurs & teuthids but I am a eruditory sponge & the gap has been filled.

who to cheer on though being a pliosaur fan :?:
great work with the carbon platelets Phil but you missed the blue band across the top for the sky & are there any photos of the flat muddy bottom ?
 
Architeuthoceras said:
A few questions, would the fact that most of the sediment entering the western interior sea came from the west, be why most of the squid fossils are found on the eastern side? Do squid have an aversion to turbid water? Or was it because the sea was deeper on the eastern side (limestone and marl in the eastern part, shale and silt in my little corner)?

Oh I wish I could answer those questions, Kevin but I'm afraid I must admit defeat there! I had a search around for information for you earlier on deposition rates and depths in the Western Interior Sea but unfortunately drew a blank. I suppose it is possible that squid fossils could found in the western margins but just have not been located yet, afterall squid are very rare fossils in North America in general, I doubt if to date 20 Tusoteuthis fossils have been identified (my guess). Maybe they are there awaiting to be discovered.....though maybe not.... As you say, I too was under the impression that squid prefer calm water rather than choppy seas but I think Sir Steve may be able to help us with that one. It might be worth dropping Mike Everhart of the Sternberg Museum 'Oceans of Kansas' website an e-mail as I'm sure he could help. Sorry! :oops:

Thanks for the kind words everyone. You know, I'm going to have to change my mosasaur drawing as those creatures were broader at the shoulders and not as pot-bellied as I have drawn it. Still it was my first attempt ever to draw one of those things, obviously it was stuffed full of large teuthids at the time it posed for a sketch. :smile:

(1000 posts. Already?)
 
Here are a couple of pics that didn't make it. Here's the actual fossil of the Tusoteuthis pen wedged in the mouth and gills of Cimolichthys, but the quality was far too poor to include, a pity. One can just about make out what is going on, the spade shape of the gladius can be seen wedged in the gill area.

Attached is another photo of the 1998 Boreopeltis specimen from Queensland which I was unable to find out any more details about. Also, here is a picture I put together comparing various gladius forms but then got rid of because it is completely unhelpful!
 

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That unhelpful picture was very helpful, thanks for posting it Phil
Here, here (hear ?) Kevin most enlightening even if bit fuzzy but at 39.4726776 years old most of what I see is fuzzy :shock:

:band:
I know an old Cimolichthys who swallowed a Tusoteuthis
I don't know why she swallowed a Tusoteuthis I guess she'll die,
She swallowed the Tusoteuthis to catch the Liopleurodon Ferox etc etc...

With regards to Kevin & his BFH of a sedimentation question, I recall we covered this topic at middle school circa. 1976 & I recall the finest silts were carried over to the eastern side of the Western Interior sea on an El Niño type current which had cooled sufficiently by then to sink & unload. hope this helps.
:beer: for Phil's efforts
 
It seems Cimolicthys likes to swallow things it can't digest
Coprolite
(see the coprolite about 8 down from the top)

In middle school here, they teach us that all fossils were formed in Lake Bonneville, a Pleistocene lake that covered about half the state, so they are only about 10,000 to 20,000 years old :grad:
 
Kevin my erudite friend :grad: , seems Cimolichthys had a death wish or had stared extinction in the eye & accepted it's fate by accelerating it's demise.

Coprolite #1 is a classic curly is it not, no doubt sort after by poo buffs :goofysca:

In middle school here

& here I had a serious rant :yelling: with our teacher Doddy Holder who insisted that the sun is not a star :sun:
I even got detention for my insolence & people wonder why I'm a git :roll:
 
spartacus said:
:band:
I know an old Cimolichthys who swallowed a Tusoteuthis
I don't know why she swallowed a Tusoteuthis I guess she'll die,
She swallowed the Tusoteuthis to catch the Liopleurodon Ferox etc etc...

:biggrin2: I really think we should have a thread devoted to silly fossil ceph song corruptions. Spartacus, you are an inspiration!

Here are a few more pics of Tusoteuthis gladius fragments. These specimens are typical of the level of preservation of these things. All are from the Pierre Shale exposures near Morden in Manitoba. (Photographs from the Journal of Paleontology July 1987). These photos are of the specimen at Morden District Museum Q77.02.77 in ventral and dorsal views.

The third picture is of ventral views of two other specimens and a cross section of the rhachis. (Not lateral as the caption indicates).
 

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And our old friend Cimolichthys, arch-nemesis of the paleoteuthid:
 

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Here's a great image kindly supplied by Mike Everhart of a Tusoteuthis gladius that measures 75cm(ish) in length with an ammonite as companion. It is housed in the University of Kansas collection.

Thanks Mike!
 

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