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Jurassic Marine Graveyard Yields 'Monster' Fossil

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the allosaurs-as-snacks dept.

M00NIE writes "A 150 million year old giant fish-like reptile has been unearthed on an Arctic island off Norway, along with many other top marine predators. The find is 'one of the most important new sites for marine reptiles to have been discovered in the last several decades.'" From the article: "'One of them was this gigantic monster, with vertebrae the size of dinner plates and teeth the size of cucumbers,' Joern Hurum, an assistant professor at the University of Oslo, told Reuters on Thursday. 'We believe the skeleton is intact and that it's about 10 meters (33 feet) long,' he told Reuters of the pliosaur, a type of plesiosaur with a short neck and massive skull. The team dubbed the specimen 'The Monster.'"

78 comments

  1. Sea Monster A Go Go by gbulmash · · Score: 5, Funny
    Hurum reckoned the reptiles had not all died at the same time in some Jurassic-era cataclysm but had died over thousands of years in the same area, then become preserved in what was apparently a deep layer of black mud on the seabed.


    Interesting, a sort of elephant graveyard for sea monsters.

    Of course, the scary part will be when Kim Jong Il sets off North Korea's nuclear tests, waking up the big brother of one of these things. Then it attacks Tokyo.

    People are flipping on the news, thinking they somehow got a monster movie instead, but it's on every channel. Anderson Cooper and Wolf Blitzer are fighting over who gets the first interview with it, but then they get scooped by Deborah Norville and Inside Edition. Millions tune in, hoping to see Deb get chomped by a giant prehistoric monster... and they're not disappointed.

    Simultaneous Farking, Digging, and Slashdotting cause the clip to shoot to #1 on YouTube. Someone puts up a fake MySpace page for the monster. Within 24 hours it has 896,327 MySpace friends, a garish background, and all of the 86 "dancing monster" animated .gifs that have started circulating around.

    Wannabe BotNet masters start the SeaMonsterAV.32 virus, which is an e-mail promising never-before-seen footage of the Sea Monster. 3 million people are infected, and the "Get a SeaMonster Powerful Penis" spams flood out by the billions...

    Sometimes, when your imagination wants to take you for a ride, just say no.

    - Greg
    --
    Start a happiness pandemic
    1. Re:Sea Monster A Go Go by Clazzy · · Score: 3, Funny

      Remember kids, say no to drugs!

      --
      If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards... Checkmate.
    2. Re:Sea Monster A Go Go by bigsimes · · Score: 2, Funny

      I hope the monster brings some batteries when he is awoken by kim jong. I've been looking for a seamonster battery for ages. My computers clock no longer keeps the right time (or date!) and I can't find one anywhere. A computer guy told me I needed one of these to fix the problem.

    3. Re:Sea Monster A Go Go by avasol · · Score: 1

      Dude, two puffs - then pass. You should know this by now!

    4. Re:Sea Monster A Go Go by pipingguy · · Score: 1

      Sometimes, when your imagination wants to take you for a ride, just say no.

      But that's exactly what you just did, and it was hilarious.

    5. Re:Sea Monster A Go Go by mgblst · · Score: 1

      WTF, is this obvious poster month of something.

  2. Petrol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Skull smells like petrol on second page of article! Bloody oil companies are involved!

  3. Sorry... by RulerOf · · Score: 0

    http://jurassicparkwtf.ytmnd.com/

    But I just had to.

    --
    Boot Windows, Linux, and ESX over the network for free.
  4. Extinction by symes · · Score: 0

    Why has time extinguished all but a handful of the truly monstorous creatures?

    1. Re:Extinction by gbulmash · · Score: 1
      Why has time extinguished all but a handful of the truly monstorous creatures?

      It wasn't time that did it. It was going pterodactyl hunting with Dick Cheney.

      --
      Start a happiness pandemic
    2. Re:Extinction by Tx · · Score: 1

      Because evolution didn't need the rest of them, once it had come up with the ultimate badass species.

      --
      Oh no... it's the future.
    3. Re:Extinction by Bastard+of+Subhumani · · Score: 0

      Bah, those hairless monkey things? They're just a pasing fad.

      --
      Only three things are certain; death, taxes, and apocryphal quotations - Ben Franklin.
    4. Re:Extinction by gnool · · Score: 0

      I actually had a chat about this the other week with a friend who's studying environmental science. He said that long long ago, Antarctica and Australia (and most likely some other places) were completely covered with forests, and said that the hypothesis about why these enormous creatures have died out is to do with the fact that there isn't as much forest as there was in prehistoric times, and therefore isn't as much oxygen around, and therefore animalkind evolved to not need so much oxygen (ie, got much smaller). I could be wrong though, I know nothing about this field of knowledge at all ;-)

    5. Re:Extinction by kahei · · Score: 1


      And yet... has it? After all, isn't the biggest monster of all... MANKIND??

      --
      Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
    6. Re:Extinction by ericartman · · Score: 1

      But a few more ticks of the clock and the most monstrous (mankind) will be gone too. And stepping up next to the plate is ..........?

    7. Re:Extinction by Oligonicella · · Score: 1

      Sounds like he was describing the Carboniferous, when there weren't any large animals to consume the large plants. The insects, arachnids, etc. of the time were much larger. That doesn't hold for later times (Jurassic). By the way, the Blue Whale (alive today) is the largest animal to ever have lived.

    8. Re:Extinction by Ch_Omega · · Score: 1

      And yet... has it? After all, isn't the biggest monster of all... MANKIND??

      Aww.... that was cheap. :D

    9. Re:Extinction by Ch_Omega · · Score: 2, Funny

      But a few more ticks of the clock and the most monstrous (mankind) will be gone too. And stepping up next to the plate is ..........?

      Is it cliché night or something?

    10. Re:Extinction by kamochan · · Score: 1

      Why, squirrels, of course. Giant, fluffy, man-eating (re: mankind will be gone), amphibious squirrels.

      This is my design, I call it intelligent, hence it must be so.

  5. they simply changed form by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    we had one in 1940's Germany and we have at least several in America today.

  6. This God character by traveller604 · · Score: 0

    Sure keeps testing us :)

    1. Re:This God character by tomhudson · · Score: 1

      That's right ... after all, we know that any resemblance between Bush and a chimpanzee is purely coincidental.

    2. Re:This God character by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Damn.. your right... they found a really big fish... positive proof God cannot exist... cuz everyone knows big fish != God? WTF? ugh...

  7. Re:Petrol - ontopic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why is the parent marked offtopic? The item above was clearly in the article! Looks like even moderators don't read the articles they moderate on!!!

  8. Nothing new. by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 3, Funny

    Just give a day or two. The Discovery Institute is studying the new evidence and is working hard on how to mangle it to fit the Intelligent Design Theory. There is no evidence to suggest the Great Overintelligent Designer, has not killed these monsters so that humans created His image would not be killed. Since we dont identify the G.O.D. explicitly it is not a religious theory masquerading as science and it needs equal time in science classes.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    1. Re:Nothing new. by edwardpickman · · Score: 2, Funny

      Actually it's proof that the Nephillim were doing genetic research using stem cells. We all know this is why God caused the flood to wipe out all life on earth to get ride of all the dinosaurs and other abomniations that the Nephillim made in the name of science. So it's quite obvious that global warming is being caused by stem cell research and gene splicing. Gotta go. Still working on a boat out back and it's looking cloudy.

    2. Re:Nothing new. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dude - you're completely neglecting the fact of the turtle that world rides on. It's in stories OLDER than the Bible, so it has to be that much more true.

    3. Re:Nothing new. by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1

      That was the world's first endless loop, Remember "it was turtles ALL the way down".

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  9. Sea monsters ARE in the Bible! by PRMan · · Score: 5, Informative

    Sea monsters ARE in the Bible and every ancient form of literature. It's called Leviathan. Nobody needs to "fit" anything.

    1 "Can you pull in the leviathan [a] with a fishhook or tie down his tongue with a rope? 2 Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook? 3 Will he keep begging you for mercy? Will he speak to you with gentle words? 4 Will he make an agreement with you for you to take him as your slave for life? 5 Can you make a pet of him like a bird or put him on a leash for your girls? 6 Will traders barter for him? Will they divide him up among the merchants? 7 Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears? 8 If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the struggle and never do it again! 9 Any hope of subduing him is false; the mere sight of him is overpowering. 10 No one is fierce enough to rouse him. Who then is able to stand against me? 11 Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me. 12 "I will not fail to speak of his limbs, his strength and his graceful form. 13 Who can strip off his outer coat? Who would approach him with a bridle? 14 Who dares open the doors of his mouth, ringed about with his fearsome teeth? 15 His back has [b] rows of shields tightly sealed together; 16 each is so close to the next that no air can pass between. 17 They are joined fast to one another; they cling together and cannot be parted. 18 His snorting throws out flashes of light; his eyes are like the rays of dawn. 19 Firebrands stream from his mouth; sparks of fire shoot out. 20 Smoke pours from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over a fire of reeds. 21 His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from his mouth. 22 Strength resides in his neck; dismay goes before him. 23 The folds of his flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable. 24 His chest is hard as rock, hard as a lower millstone. 25 When he rises up, the mighty are terrified; they retreat before his thrashing. 26 The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin. 27 Iron he treats like straw and bronze like rotten wood. 28 Arrows do not make him flee; slingstones are like chaff to him. 29 A club seems to him but a piece of straw; he laughs at the rattling of the lance. 30 His undersides are jagged potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge. 31 He makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment. 32 Behind him he leaves a glistening wake; one would think the deep had white hair. 33 Nothing on earth is his equal-- a creature without fear. 34 He looks down on all that are haughty; he is king over all that are proud."
    --
    Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
    1. Re:Sea monsters ARE in the Bible! by advance512 · · Score: 3, Informative

      The word leviathan means sea whale in modern hebrew. I am pretty sure it has always meant this.

      Even other interpretations of the word refer to crocodiles or a giant shark, never a dinosaur.

    2. Re:Sea monsters ARE in the Bible! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      A minor quibble: ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and mosasaurs are giant marine reptiles, not dinosaurs. Dinosaurs are exclusively land-dwelling.

      That being said, it's obvious the Biblical passages are unlikely to refer to any of these because if they did, then these creatures lived into human times and the bones of such creatures would be found in younger sediments almost up to the present day, rather than deep in Earth history. They'd be a little hard to miss, given how large and distinctive they are.

    3. Re:Sea monsters ARE in the Bible! by theodicey · · Score: 2, Funny
      Paleontologists will be fascinated to know that their fossil giant marine reptiles had breath weapons. (But not as surprised as marine biologists, since the proper translation is "whale".)
      19 Firebrands stream from his mouth; sparks of fire shoot out. 20 Smoke pours from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over a fire of reeds. 21 His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from his mouth.
      I'm sure they'll be able to confirm this amazing prediction within hours once they put their minds to it. The Bible is such a rich source of zoological information. What would scientists do without it?
    4. Re:Sea monsters ARE in the Bible! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      "His back has [b] rows of shields tightly sealed together"

      As far as I know, plesiosaurs or ichthyosaurs don't have dermal scutes (i.e. boney plates in their skin) on their back. Thanks for playing.

      It's possible this passage is referring to a crocodile. It would make more sense.

    5. Re:Sea monsters ARE in the Bible! by Yendys · · Score: 2, Informative

      Uh, was the bible written in modern hebrew??? Word meanings change over time.

    6. Re:Sea monsters ARE in the Bible! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe God in modern Hebrew actually meant bullsh*t in ancient Hebrew.

    7. Re:Sea monsters ARE in the Bible! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nah

      Jehovah is Arabic for "bitch"

    8. Re:Sea monsters ARE in the Bible! by laejoh · · Score: 0
      19 Firebrands stream from his mouth; sparks of fire shoot out. 20 Smoke pours from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over a fire of reeds. 21 His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from his mouth.
      Hey, you just described my PHB!
    9. Re:Sea monsters ARE in the Bible! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dinosaurs are exclusively land-dwelling.

      Unless you count birds, of course.

  10. Fish like? by AC-x · · Score: 1

    Surely these are more whale like then fish like?

    1. Re:Fish like? by Ch_Omega · · Score: 1

      Surely these are more whale like then fish like?

      That depends on how you use the word likeness. The simmilar shape between whales and the Pliosaur is probably a result of somewhat simmilar living conditions. Still, one is a reptile and the other is a mammal, and as far as I know, biologicaly(fell free to correct me on this, I'm no biologist)reptiles are closer to fish, than what mammals are.

    2. Re:Fish like? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      While I have next to no clue about biology, fish do strike me as a lot closer to reptiles than whales.
      After all, both have scales..

    3. Re:Fish like? by tubapro12 · · Score: 1

      The line of relations amongst vertebrates goes something like this: fish -> amphibians -> reptiles -> birds & mammals; so yes, you're right, and IANAB either.

  11. Photos by edxwelch · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here is an artical that includes some nice photos:
    http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,441160, 00.html

    1. Re:Photos by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nice way to combine article and artificial.

    2. Re:Photos by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      holy fuck! that bastard's got teeth the size of cucumbers!!!

  12. Godzilla by Servo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Actually, Godzilla didn't attack Tokyo in a direct response to the nukes. The nuclear fallout caused the fish population to dwindle to the point that Godzilla had nothing else to eat, so it began eating humans.

    --
    A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over. -Benjamin Franklin
    1. Re:Godzilla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where did you come up with that? I don't believe I've seen Godzilla eat anything, much less humans or fish. . .

    2. Re:Godzilla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, Godzilla didn't attack Tokyo AT ALL. Never happened.

    3. Re:Godzilla by davidsyes · · Score: 1

      For those who don't know (generations?), Gojira was not invented to "make a monster movie". The makers were reflecting the nuke-victim mentality of the time and how nuclear weapons were monsters in and of themselves. Gojira was the theatrica/film representation of guilt, fear, desire to eradicate nukes, and more. At points it was (IIRC) either government or self-censored, and nowadays the uncensored or original versions can be found.

      It was (probably) a bold and strong thing to come out in that day and in surreal and soul-searching fashion (possibly semi-clandestinely) speak out as a victim of being nuked.

      --
      Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
    4. Re:Godzilla by chawly · · Score: 0

      Thanks. I knew there was a reason. In Japan too, where fish is a staple food. Their flesh probably tastes of fish - old Godzilla made a good choice.

      --
      How many beans make five, anyhow ? ... Charles Walmsley
    5. Re:Godzilla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Perhaps the biggest pile of manure I've ever heard...

    6. Re:Godzilla by eno2001 · · Score: 1

      "Worst. Flaimbate. EVER" - Twirlipofthemists (c) 2001

      --
      -"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
  13. What? by bigsimes · · Score: 1

    teeth the size of cucumbers. I see bad analogy guy's hand in this submission.

    1. Re:What? by tehcyder · · Score: 1
      teeth the size of cucumbers. I see bad analogy guy's hand in this submission.
      I think that would have been more like "teeth the size of piston rods/shock absorbers".
      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  14. I love how... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    they find some bones in the dirt and magically know how long ago this creature lived. I mean seriously, how are they getting these numbers? Carbon dating?? It's nowhere near accurate past a few thousand years, because you have no idea what kind of outside forces have affected the decay rate.

      How anyone can call a bunch of guessing "scientific" is beyond me.

    1. Re:I love how... by mikelieman · · Score: 1

      Well, to begin, have you ever heard of Stratigraphy?

      --
      Technology -- No Place For Wimps! Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia Chatroom -- http://www.wemissjerry.org
    2. Re:I love how... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bzzzt. Thanks for playing. Outside forces don't affect the decay rate of radioactive isotopes.

    3. Re:I love how... by Col+Bat+Guano · · Score: 1

      Yes. Yesssss... that's it exactly.

  15. Joggrafy 101 by arth1 · · Score: 1

    Calling Svalbard "an arctic island off Norway" is like calling Hawaii "a tropical island off New Zeeland". Except that the Svalbard archipelago is a LOT bigger than Hawaii, isn't owned by a single country, and even has its own top level domain name (.sj).

    Regards,
    --
    *Art

    1. Re:Joggrafy 101 by Zaitor · · Score: 1

      Uhm, say what?
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard

      From Wiki
      By the terms of the international diplomacy recognized Norwegian sovereignty. Norway took over administration of Svalbard in 1925. However, under the terms of this unique treaty, citizens of various other countries have rights to exploit mineral deposits and other natural resources "on a footing of absolute equality".

    2. Re:Joggrafy 101 by rootEToTheIPi · · Score: 1

      .sj is "allocated but not used" (wikipedia), they use .no....and "Svalbard consists of a group of islands in the Arctic Ocean; ranging from 76 to 81 North, and 10 to 35 East, it forms the northernmost part of Norway and the northernmost lands of Europe" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard. If you look at a map, "off Norway" really is a decent description of its location.

      --
      When it comes to pastry theft, I take the cake.
    3. Re:Joggrafy 101 by singingjim · · Score: 0

      Well lahdy freakin' dah!!

      --
      Terrible karma and aiming lower, which in this environment of one-sided reason, is higher.
  16. Oh-No! by Ghost+Gerbil · · Score: 1

    They've discovered the dreaded water serpent Colossus! Quick, get my horse, bow, and sword ready!

  17. sea whale by edxwelch · · Score: 2, Funny

    "The word leviathan means sea whale in modern hebrew"
    What other types of whale are there? I can't imagine what a "land whale" would look like.

    1. Re:sea whale by advance512 · · Score: 1

      Rosie O'Donnell?

    2. Re:sea whale by tehcyder · · Score: 1
      I can't imagine what a "land whale" would look like.
      Absolutely fucking knackered, I would guess.
      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  18. standardisation needed by edxwelch · · Score: 1

    I read in another artical that they were the size of bananas. They really need to standardise on which vegitables to compair monster teeth size.

    1. Re:standardisation needed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...they should standardise spelling, too...

  19. Svalbard is a Norwegian territory by Terje+Mathisen · · Score: 4, Informative

    Svalbard, including Spitzbergen which is the largest island, is recognized by UN as a Norwegian territory.

    It does exist in a sort of legal limbo though, in that any country which signs the Svalbard treaty can go in and look for natural resources. Russia and its Soviet precursor have had a fairly large city (Barentsburg) there for decades, supporting a coal mine which is now running out.

    The chief authority on Svalbard is the office of 'Sysselmannen', which is located in the main Norwegian settlement, Longyearbyen.

    A few hours south (by snowmobile) of Longyearbyen is the site of the Svea mine, which is sitting on a very rich coal seam, it is currently one of the most productive (per employee) mines in the world.

    Svalbard also contains the big international research station at Ny Ålesund, which is operated by the Kings Bay Company.
    http://www.kingsbay.no/

    Visiting Svalbard in March a couple of years ago was one of my most memorable trips ever:

    http://confluence.org/confluence.php?visitid=8138

    Terje

    --
    "almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"
    1. Re:Svalbard is a Norwegian territory by whathappenedtomonday · · Score: 1
      http://confluence.org/confluence.php?visitid=813 8

      Whoa, cool! Really cool, in every respect! thx!

      --
      I hope I didn't brain my damage.
    2. Re:Svalbard is a Norwegian territory by singingjim · · Score: 0

      Longyearbyen? kthxbyethen.

      --
      Terrible karma and aiming lower, which in this environment of one-sided reason, is higher.
  20. Vague description by affliction · · Score: 1

    Some cucumbers are bigger than others, but I suppose it's all in how you use it.

    Alternatively, she had a very nice set of dinner plates.

  21. Present-day animals suck by WheresMyDingo · · Score: 1
    Just to rub in how boring animals are today, nytimes.com informs us of evidence of an ancient, giant camel: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/world/middleeast /08camel.html

    It's almost too much to bear! I want my big animals back, now!

  22. Giant == 10m ? by SirJorgelOfBorgel · · Score: 1

    Am I the only one who thinks a skeleton 10 meters in length does not constitute a "giant" monster? I mean, isn't this even a bit on the smallish size for "giant sea monsters"? A sperm whale, for example, can easily grow twice as long as that.

  23. So... by cno3 · · Score: 1

    You're saying that his scenario is feasable then?

  24. Please don't forget the Flying Spaghetti Monster by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think She will be offended if we disregard her when we discuss her creations.

    Hail the Flying Spaghetti Monster!

    RAmen.