The largest marine fossil tooth ever discovered belonged to an ichthyosaur

Among the largest living animals, ichthyosaurs were not far from holding the record. Populating the Earth about 200 million years ago, their length often exceeded 20 meters. Today, the largest tooth that belonged to one of these marine reptiles has been discovered by paleontologists in the Swiss Alps.

They are among the largest animals to have ever lived in history, with lengths that can exceed 20 meters, comparable to those of blue whales. The ichthyosaursassimilated to marine reptilesappeared following thePermian extinction which decimated more than 95% of the species marine around 250 million years ago. The species then diversified over millions of years, since it persisted until the Cretaceous.

Three of them have just been revealed by paleontologists, which would be among the largest specimens of the species. Unearthed between 1976 and 1990 in the Kössen Formation in the Swiss Alps, details about these fossils were published in the journal Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Among them, a tooth whose width is twice as large as those of any known aquatic reptile! With nearly six centimeters in diameter, it would have belonged to a 15-meter-long ichthyosaur.

The ancestors of modern whales

Having roughly the same shape as the whales current, these marine reptiles had elongated bodies and erect caudal fins. While the little ones ichthyosaurs generally had teeth, the largest specimens found up to this discovery had none. A characteristic that the researchers justify by the mode of feeding: they fed by suction, in a way similar to current whales which use systems of filtration. “The big eaters among the giants must have fed on cephalopods. Those with teeth probably fed on smaller and larger ichthyosaurs. Pisces »suggested P. Martin Sander, first author of the study.

Weighing around 80 tons, the ichthyosaurs populated Panthalassathe giant primeval ocean which was formed 4 billion years ago at the beginning of the Earth. The Swiss Alps were then only a vast expanse of water, which over the years with the collision of the tectonic plates of Europe and Africa folded to become the chain of the Alps. This is why these marine fossils were found at an altitude of 2,800 meters, in the heart of the mountains!