Elasmosaurs Ate Squid

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New Scientist article...

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8110

Finds that Elasmosaurs, with their long necks, were grazing clams, crabs etc. off the bottom - but ate "squid-like animals" too. Fossil squid shell (cuttle? nautiloid?) remains in fossil elsmosaur.

 

[Melissa]

Neat! And scary, if you identify with small prehistoric shellfish.

 

[Graeme]

I know it sounds really weird, but I always found something about Elasmosaurs a bit unnerving; compared to plesiosaurs. I think it was because their necks were a lot longer, plus all the pictures in old books showed them as really nasty-looking pieces of work, compared to more "placis-looking" plesios. hmmm

Graeme

 

[Phil]

Thanks for the article link, Snafflehound, interesting stuff. Some plesiosaurs also ate ancient squid; have a look at this old thread for images of beaks of vampyromorph beaks in the rib cage of a Cretaceous plesiosaur.

http://www.tonmo.com/community/index.php?threads/2580/&highlight=plesiosaur