Marine Reptiles coloring pages

 

Welcome to my free coloring pages blog. Today I will be posting several new drawings. 

THIS post is about some Marine Reptiles that lived at the same time as the dinosaurs.

But remember, Marine Reptiles were NOT swimming dinosaurs. 

Later I will post other Marine Reptile drawings on this post, but I need to take my wife to the dentist. 

I will also be posting other drawings even later today and tomorrow 

in the Fantasy, Religious, Transportation etc. categories. 

Huge New Ichthyosaur

Three gigantic Ichthyosaurs were found in the Alps at 9100 feet or 2800 meters above sea level.  Two were the size of Shonisaurus at around 15 and 20 meters long.  That is huge at 50-65 feet long.  The elevation of the find shows how much tectonic activity has moved the once bottom-of-the-sea that high altitude. 

But what is even more exciting is the third specimen.  It consists of only a tooth from an Ichthyosaur.  The tooth was bigger than any other Ichthyosaur tooth ever found.  My wife and I did the math.  IF the tooth is the same proportional size as other Ichthyosaur teeth then that makes this new Ichthyosaur somewhere around 177 feet or 54 meters long!!!  There is some thought that maybe the tooth is from an Ichthyosaur that just had extra long teeth.  But if the tooth is the same proportional size as other Ichthyosaur teeth then this new animal was bigger than a blue whale.  If fact it would have been 77 feet longer than a blue whale and certainly heavier as well!  

These animals were found in rock that came from sediment that was 205 million years ago.  Plus the rock was from sediment that was once a shallow part of the sea.  That was a new discovery from Ichthyosaurs.  Previously it was thought that Ichthyosaurs lived only in deep ocean water.  

Notice the scuba diver in the drawing.  No, no humans were around 205 million years ago to “swim with the Ichthyosaurs.”  I added the scuba diver to help you appreciate the massive size of this as-yet-named Ichthyosaur.  I did measurements to get the scale correct but I may still have drawn the scuba diver too large!  Can ya BELIEVE the SIZE of this HUGE Ichthyosaur?!  Well, at least it is its POSSIBLE size. 

Liopleurodon in a Deep Ocean

Plesiosaur Mother & Calf

Mosasaur without an Eel-like Tail

Previously we thought all Mosasaurs had an ell-like tail.  But, more recent 

discoveries indicate that the later or "derived" Mosasaurs had a tail fluke. 

So here is pretty much the same drawing with a tail fluke.

Mosasaur with a Tail Fluke

NOTE:  To get to the printable versions of these new drawings just click on the "Paleontology" button on the top of the page.  Look for the "Mesozoic" section of the list.  Then scroll down to the bottom of that part of the list. New drawings are always at the bottom of the correct list.  In the list, you will find many other printable drawings of Marine Reptiles.  Those drawings are further up the list.