Water Dragons and Sea Monsters

NOTE:  Both drawings are new.  The Water Dragon and from Mythology and the Sea Monster can be found on the "Fantasy and Myths" button above and the Australian Water Dragon is on the "Animals" button or page.  All new drawings are at the bottom of the list of drawings on those pages.

Today we have a guest artists.  My high-school-aged grandnephew David drew this water dragon from mythology.  David has real artistic talent. Sometimes sea serpents are also called Water Dragons.   I added the background and darkened the lines to make this a coloring page drawing.  I have one more of his drawings I will post another time.  I hope he will send me more.  I like his style of drawing.

Water Dragon form Mythology

(new drawing)

There are also real water dragons.  They exist in Asia and Australia.  The following drawing is of an Australian species.  The Genus name for these lizards is Physignathus.  They have a vertically flattened tail...that they use like a fish uses it's tail.  They can and do swim very well.  They can hold their breath for long periods of time, like a crocodile or alligator.  Their cells can tolerate more Carbon Dioxide than ours can... allowing them to stay under water for long periods of time   Although they live on land and can go into the water, do not confuse Water Dragons with salamanders.  Water Dragons are not amphibians.  Water Dragons, like almost all reptiles, lay leathery eggs on land and breathe air through lungs their entire lives. . .  and Water Dragons do not have leaky skin like an amphibian.  An amphibian away from water will soon dry up and die as the water leaks out of its skin...kind of osmosis gone bad.   

The trees in the below picture are Eucalyptus and a special type of Eucalyptus called Ghost Gum Tree.  Both have white bark.  The fallen tree or the log the Water Dragon is on has no bark left on it.  Thanks to my wife Laurel for telling me about the trees of Australia.  She went there before I met her.  We hope to go there next summer....in the Australian winter.  By the way, I should have drawn a longer tail.   Oh well, artists don't complete a work or art, we just abandon it.  

Australian Water Dragon
(new drawing)

Of course Man has believed in sea monsters for many years.  Christopher Columbus probably faced the fear in his own crew of sea monsters while they sailed into the great unknown of the Western Atlantic Ocean.  

Sea Monster swimming by a ship

Anciently in prehistoric times, there definitely WERE sea monsters.  The giant marine reptiles were all clearly sea monsters.   Some marine reptiles grew to up to 70 feet long.  During the Mesozoic Era while dinosaurs ruled the land the marine reptiles ruled the oceans.  They included the Ichthyosaurs, the Plesiosaurs, the Pliosaurs, and the Mosasaurs.  The below older drawings of marine reptiles are from last year.   

Shonisaurus feeding

They were the largest Ichtyosaur at around 70 feet long.

Plesiosaur Surfacing

46 feet or 14 meters long

Liopleurodon in Shallow Sea
The size of these has been exaggerated but we now think they were about 20-25 feet long
That would be about 7-8 meters.  

Tylosaurs with Ammonites nTeeth

This is the biggest Mosasaur.  They were up to 55 feet or 17 meters long.

Tylosaurus with Pteranodon

New theories suggest that perhaps some Mosasaurs had tail flukes. 

Tylosaurus Tooth with the Root