helicoprion any animal with the nickname spiral saw has got to be pretty badass
and the helicoprion is no exception described by anthropologists as a world toothed shark this
late carboniferous creature dominated the seas 280 million years ago survived the cataclysmic
permian triassic extinction event and eventually vanished out of our waters 225 million years ago
during the first part of the triassic period during its oceanic reign the helicoprion subdued
its prey with what only can be described as a circular saw of over a hundred serrated teeth
that expertly mashed up sea ammonite shells and ripped through the flesh of lesser fish
helicoprion lived worldwide with fossils unearthed in modern-day russia the northern
united states and canada megalodon the most infamous fish in all of recorded history the
megalodon was a nightmarish gigantic shark that roamed the prehistoric seas this apex predator
died out roughly 3.6 million years ago although some speculate that these enormous sharks are
still lurking in unexplored areas of our oceans specifically the trenches that cut deep under
our continents the mighty meg was astonishingly big easily the biggest shark that ever existed
at 60 ft long or the length of one and a half average sized city buses this giant animal was
thrice the length of a great white shark and far more deadly if that wasn't spine chilling enough
consider the megalodon's teeth every single tooth was an average of seven centimeters long
or longer than a dollar bill and this epic shark had 276 of them along with enormous serrated barbs
the megalodon has a vast maw that could stretch up to 12 feet enough to swallow
two average-sized humans lying side by side in one gulp this sadistic shark feasted on other sharks
whales dolphins and substantial lizard-like creatures of the ancient seas
although modern-day pop culture paints the mag as a super-sized copy of today's great white shark
this creature resembled a blue shark with long pectoral fins the better to ambush its watery prey
chronosaurus named after the brutal greek titan kronos kronosaurus was a nightmarish marine
reptile from the cretaceous period a massive pleasure kronosaurus's averaged 30 feet long
or the length of two cars parked bumper to bumper it was also a ruthless predator swallowing up
lesser lizards and small dinosaurs with equal zeal kronosaurus lived mostly near queensland
and northern australia and hunted by propelling itself forward with a pair of muscular flippers
and snapping up prey with jaws full of 11 inch long teeth that's a full four inches longer than
your average megalodon teeth making the animal one of the deadliest creatures that ever existed
it was also highly intelligent and any prey that accidentally wandered into the chronosource patch
of ocean was in for a fatal surprise tylosaurus of all the cretaceous sea's deadly creatures one
stands head and shoulders above the rest the mighty tylosaurus this marine
reptile was as abundant as it was lethal lurking everywhere from the arctic circle to the gulf of
mexico the tylosaurus's secret weapon was its extra teeth lodged in the interior of its skull
tylosaurus already had plenty of razor sharp teeth to mash up its prey still the real death blow was
delivered when the unfortunate animal was inside the monster's jaws and at the mercy of tylosaurus
additional teeth tylosaurus used the sheer brute force of its snout to stun prey before skewering
them on its rows of barbed teeth ambushing from beneath the one-two punch of their signature
attack made them fierce fighters but their sheer size made them absolute nightmare fuel tylosaurus
could grow as large as 45 feet or longer than your average three-story building is tall today
you can find tylosaurus descendants in southeast asia known as the humble monitor lizard leviatin
leviatin was an ancient cannibalistic whale that might have inspired sea monster lore and certainly
terrorized any prehistoric animals unfortunate enough to get near it the leviathan's favorite
stomping ground was the peruvian coast near the vast atacama trench where it viciously dominated
the seas 12 million years ago unlike today's sperm whales the closest modern equivalent
of leviatin this animal had powerful jaws and plenty of teeth to grind prey to paste
each tooth was a full foot long and four inches wide as long as a ruler and twice as wide they
are the biggest teeth that ever existed on any known animal ever including tusks also unlike
today's whales leviatin didn't rely on suction to dry and prey it merely grabbed it in its
cavernous maw and smashed it to bits this animal was at the top of the food chain a considerable
feat when you consider what other kinds of powerful creatures lived in the ancient seas
and even eight baleen whales a distant cousin and other weaker smaller leviatin dunkleosteus
the dunkleosteus is what you get when you cross an enormous prehistoric fish with an armored tank
this swimming terror lived in the late devonian period and was 33 feet long on average and weighed
as much as four tons for reference that's longer than a cessna plane if you crossed paths with this
giant beast 400 million years ago you were in big trouble its body was perfectly shielded in massive
bone plates giving it a serious evolutionary advantage over other animals of the time
on top of it all the dunkleosteus was carnivorous voraciously consuming virtually any other fish
in the seas plus other dungliostias although it was technically toothless this powerful fish had
an armored jaw that acted like a pair of sharp gardening shears snipping its prey into tiny
smithereens with ease to boot the dunkleosteus had a 21 000 psi bite capacity which rivaled the
ancient giant crocodile odontocalis semitestasia ancient china's odontocalis semitestasia lived
220 million years ago and is a fascinating link between prehistoric animals and modern day turtles
this amazing animal had a shelled belly but its back was completely exposed making it a
cute and curious missing link turtles are the only animals that form shells on their bodies
and a turtle shell is actually part of its ribs and vertebrae odanto kayla's semi-testacia gives
us some insight into how and why turtles forge their back shells and the more we can study their
remains the more we can unravel the mysteries of one of nature's most enigmatic creatures ammonite
mollusks from the dawn of time ammonites are the ancient relatives of octopi and squid and
saturated the seas long before the first dinosaur ever set a scaly foot on the planet ammonites date
back 400 million years and are very valuable as index fossils or markers that paleontologists can
use to determine how old rock formations are since our land and seas have shifted so much
since the beginning of life on earth ammonites are one of the most valuable marine animals that ever
existed they were pretty cool for their time as well unlike modern day octopi and squid ammonites
were hard shelled but still had all the defense mechanisms of today's creatures like tentacles and
the capacity to squirt ink at predators the name ammonite comes from the egyptian sun god amman
elasmosaurus this long-nicked pleosure was a real-life sea monster with a neck that
stretched a full 20 feet that's as long as a large suv these ancient animals had more
neck bones than any other creature then or since with 72 vertebrae making up its diaphanous neck
although creatures like elasmosaurus are often depicted with bindi s-shaped nicks in pop culture
and mythology the real-life version is unlikely to have had this capacity in reality elasmosauruses
were probably not very flexible at all but that hardly made them worse hunters these animals could
propel themselves through the seas using powerful flippers and crush prey with their sharp teeth
although the elasmosaurus ate mostly fish its sheer size could have allowed it to consume
smaller dinosaurs or even other pleosures leopleuridon europe's apex sea predator the
leopleurodon was an artful ambusher who spanned 21 feet or was as long as a giraffe is tall its name
is greek for smooth sighted teeth but they might have been better off calling this apex predator
carnivorous crushing teeth because this voracious creature loved to snack on all of the goodies in
the ancient world its diet included a mixture of fish squid and smaller marine reptiles
like most formidable sea reptiles of the ancient world the leopleuridon probably also snacked on
smaller dinosaurs what really set this animal apart from the pack was its incredible speed
the leoplerdon could not only swim exceptionally fast but it was also intelligent enough to lurk
near its prey and dart up from the darkness to ambush it giving the leopardon the element of
surprise and the evolutionary boon of might spinosaurus once thought a land mammal the
spinosaurus surprised paleontologists by revealing itself to be both a titan of the seas and shore
a colossal carnivore with the skull of a crocodile in the body of a t-rex
except a lot more agile in the waves using its enormous muscular tail as a propeller to navigate
through the water spinosaurus lived during the cretaceous period and was a whopping 50 feet
long or the length of your average giant squid it enthusiastically hunted prey from both the land
and the shallows and one of its favorite meals was the ancient sawfish the mere fact that the
spinosaurus could transition between land and sea meant that no creatures in its vicinity were safe
it was undoubtedly one of the apex predators of its time thanks for watching would you rather take
a dip with a leviathan or wrestle a dunkleosteus let us know in the comment section below
you