Imagine a sea creature so massive it makes a whale look small—that’s the giant ichthyosaur! This prehistoric marine reptile, nicknamed "the dino of the deep," lived over 200 million years ago and could grow up to 85 feet long. Scientists discovered its fossilized remains high up in the Alps, proving just how much our planet has changed. It looked like a mix between a dolphin and a lizard, but on a supersized scale. With its long snout and powerful body, it ruled the ancient oceans like an unstoppable predator. This giant proves that nature’s imagination has no limits, especially when it comes to creatures of the past!
00:00So imagine stumbling upon a creature so huge it could dwarf even the largest known marine animals today.
00:07Scientists discovered the fossils of this beast on England's coast, and believe it once ruled the waves.
00:14The new species was named Ichthyotitan severinensis, but thankfully for me, scientists nicknamed it the Littlestock monster.
00:23Its estimated lengths ranged from 72 to 85 feet long, almost as big as a blue whale.
00:30Megalodon can't even compare to this. It was only about 60 feet long.
00:34And what's crazy is that this fossil we found wasn't even an adult, so who knows what their actual size was.
00:41The first piece of the Littlestock monster was discovered in 2016 in the Westbury Formation.
00:47Researchers found a 3-foot-long jaw part that belonged to an unknown species.
00:52For years, this single fragment had been driving them crazy because they had no idea what that animal was.
01:00Then, in 2020, a miracle happened, of sorts.
01:03A father with his 11-year-old daughter found the second piece of fossil on a beach.
01:08This discovery led to more findings.
01:11Finally, in 2022, the last piece of the literal jaw puzzle was found, buried along the Somerset coast.
01:18This leviathan belonged to the Shastasaurid family.
01:23Both the Littlestock monster and other Shastasaurids had one ancestor.
01:27So, all the species in this family are super similar to each other.
01:31For example, all of them were the largest marine reptiles ever to exist.
01:35Although our Littlestock monster is much larger, most Shastasaurids could grow up to only 69 feet long.
01:43And it's possible that the Littlestock monster, when fully grown, would reach up to 100 feet or even more.
01:50Both of their bodies were just perfect for cruising the ancient seas.
01:54These marine titans were elegant and slender, with an elongated snout.
01:59Other marine animals at the time were smaller and looked more like dolphins.
02:02Shastasaurids had long, paddle-like limbs adapted for efficient swimming.
02:08Their skulls show large eye sockets, which means they had excellent vision.
02:13If you were in the ocean, no matter what time it was or where you were hiding, they could spot you.
02:18They were also incredibly fast and could dive to great depths.
02:23Of course, all these things made them the most terrifying predators.
02:26They ate pretty much everything, including fish and squid, and you if you were there.
02:31They probably captured their prey like whales, opened their huge mouths, and literally sucked the fish in.
02:38What made the Littlestock monster especially scary is that it wins in the jaw competition.
02:43For other Shastasaurids, their jaws were a bit weaker.
02:47So they hunted smaller fish, kind of like today's orchids.
02:50They required vast amounts of food.
02:52This shows us that the Earth's Triassic oceans had rich, productive food webs.
02:57But the Littlestock monster has this unique feature.
03:00It could open its jaw almost 90 degrees upwards.
03:04It also had tons of powerful muscles around.
03:07Its jaws were horrifyingly strong.
03:09So while others were hunting some squids, the Littlestock monster probably hunted large fish and even other marine reptiles.
03:17Fossils of Shastasaurus have been found everywhere in the world, from North America to Asia.
03:23This means that these creatures dominated and terrorized the oceans for millions of years.
03:28Although even they weren't completely safe from scavengers.
03:31And that's exactly why we struggle to find these fossils now.
03:35Scavengers didn't leave any remnants of them.
03:37So while we have some fossils of this marine family, they mostly remain a mystery for us.
03:43They lived in the oceans about 200 million years ago, in the late Triassic period.
03:49The Earth looked completely different back then.
03:51All continents were united in one Pangaea, a huge landmass.
03:56Some parts of this supercontinent were covered with lush conifer forests.
04:00While others were dry deserts and open prairies.
04:03It was before the famous Jurassic period.
04:06But there were already first pterosaurs and amphibians.
04:09It seems like those monsters were crazy resilient.
04:12The Triassic period was super unstable.
04:15But they survived through many changes in the environment.
04:18Well, until the last one.
04:20The Triassic extinction came out of nowhere.
04:23It was one of the Earth's Big Five extinction events.
04:26It wiped out almost all species on the planet, including these leviathans.
04:31It's still not clear what happened exactly.
04:34But it looks like there was a huge tectonic activity.
04:37Volcanoes in the oceans were going crazy back then.
04:40These massive volcanic eruptions have probably altered the climate and ocean chemistry, leading
04:46to the extinction of many species.
04:48Scientists have a theory that it might have happened because there was a rain of comets
04:53flying to our planet from the Oort cloud.
04:55This likely happens about every 200 million years or so.
04:59I wasn't around then, so I'm just guessing here.
05:01In any case, after the extinction, the Earth took some time to recover.
05:07Then it entered the famous Jurassic period.
05:09More terrifying sea monsters were on the way.
05:13One of them left us a colossal skull.
05:16This fossil is 150 million years old, and it also belonged to a sea beast from Jurassic times.
05:22They called it the Sea Rex.
05:24The name is very fitting.
05:25This monster could have broken a car in half with one bite.
05:28It was also discovered accidentally.
05:32A fossil enthusiast was walking along the Jurassic coast.
05:35This place is famous for having tons of ancient fossils, all because of the erosion in stormy weather.
05:41Typically, people find small spiral fossils here.
05:45However, this time, he discovered a giant sea monster fossil.
05:49Excited, he contacted scientists.
05:51They arrived at the spot right away and then had to carefully climb down a cliff to search for the rest of the skull.
05:57This fragment alone is 6 1⁄2 feet long.
06:01Turns out, it's a newly discovered species of pliosaurs, giant predators of the ancient seas.
06:07Pliosaurs were among the largest marine predators ever.
06:10Some of them grew up to 40 feet long.
06:12They used their huge teeth to snatch and devour prey, including other reptiles.
06:17Well, at least those creatures are far gone.
06:20But what about the horrors that still live in our oceans?
06:22Recently, biologists discovered the world's longest animal, the one that's still alive to this day.
06:30They found it off Australia's coast, on the Gascoyne coast, a very mysterious and unexplored place.
06:37There, underwater vehicles stumbled upon a frightening 150-foot-long siphonophore.
06:43It's twice as long as many blue whales and three times as long as a humpback whale.
06:48Doesn't it kind of look like one of those toy string worms?
06:52But this creature isn't friendly at all.
06:54It's a string-like deep-sea predator.
06:57What's even more scary is that this isn't actually one creature.
07:01It's a colony of small clones working together as one.
07:04Basically, collective consciousness.
07:07Ooh, bored.
07:08Together, they stretch out like a single long string in the water.
07:12This creature might be the longest siphonophore ever found, and it was discovered at a depth of around 2,000 feet.
07:20Siphonophores, similar to jellyfish, capture their prey by dangling, stinging tentacles in the water.
07:26When their tentacles touch small crustaceans and fish, they get paralyzed.
07:30And then, they're reeled up to the colony's body.
07:34Expeditions to Western Australia's underwater canyons were definitely worth it.
07:38Together with that siphonophore, scientists have discovered up to 30 potential new marine species.
07:44Among them were a new octopus or squid, a long-tailed sea cucumber, glass sponges, and giant hyroids, colonies of animals resembling upside-down jellyfish.
07:55None of them have been seen before in Australia.
07:58But most of them weren't as scary as the one that was recently discovered in the Gulf of Mexico.
08:03This creature is straight out of a sci-fi thriller.
08:08A 26-foot-long mangapenna squid, or a bigfin squid.
08:12It was discovered near an offshore oil rig at a depth of more than 7,800 feet.
08:17It has incredibly long, elastic tentacles, which can be 15 to 20 times longer than its body.
08:24It holds them at right angles to its body, making it look even creepier, almost as if it has elbows.
08:30And yes, it's another deep-sea predator.
08:34These 10 tentacles probably help the squid trap their prey and drag it onto the seafloor.
08:39We barely know anything about this extraterrestrial-looking creature because they're very hard to find and study.
08:46And if you think their tentacles are awful, just check out these creatures with 20 arms.
08:51This thing looks like a facehugger.
08:53This new species is lurking in the frozen depths of Antarctica.
08:57Experts were searching for cryptic sea animals known as promachocrinus, or Antarctic feather stars.
09:04They're kind of similar to starfish and sea cucumbers, but have an otherworldly appearance and can live up to 6,500 feet below the surface.
09:12It's called the Antarctic strawberry feather star.
09:15Despite its pretty name, its appearance is anything but cute.
09:19It has a bizarre strawberry-like body from which 20 spindly arms branch off.
09:25Its coloring ranges from purple to dark reddish, and the arms all have different lengths and thickness.
09:31Who knows how many more of such scary creatures we'll discover in the future?
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