Some people find it distressing to swim in the ocean, after all, there are unexplored depths that we cannot see and at any point a mysterious creature could appear. Usually, it is more likely that the mysterious creature that touched your feet is algae, but the fear is there. Rivers and lakes are seen as safer, after all most of them are not as deep and because they are in land and have defined borders, they are easier to explore and thus be reassured that there is no monster. But what if there is a monster, lying just beneath the water? Well, scientists have found one of the improbable monsters in the Mississippi River, but the good news is that it cannot come to haunt you.
The monster that was found in the Mississippi River is not an unknown creature of the depths of water like the Loch Ness monster or other mythological creatures. It is the remains of a Mosasaurus hoffmannii, better known as a giant mosasaur. This creature belonged to the Late Cretaceous period, measured up to 15 meters long and is estimated to have weighed 9,000 kilograms. As a fun additional quirk, many have found it to look like a modern representation of a gigantic aquatic dragon, so that at least proves that our imagination is not that far off from reality.
The Mississippi River monster, a relic of a past time, and very well preserved
While we do not have a lot of information about the discovery of this particular specimen, we do know that, according to the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, it was found near Starkville in the Prairie Bluff Formation. The fossil was extracted from a thick deposit of mud, after which researchers created a 3D representation of the site’s geological strata. According to the team, the monster likely had been there, undisturbed, for approximately 66 million years, dating back to the extinction event that ended the Cretaceous period.
The remains were taken to the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science to be cleaned and studied further, which has allowed scientists to make a few more conjectures about this creature.
We do know that the Mosasaurus hoffmannii shared an era with much more recognizable species, like Tyrannosaurus rex, Velociraptor and Triceratops, but while these roamed the land, the Mosasaurus hoffmannii was a feared marine predator. In keeping with the analogy, they looked like dragons, and they came in a variety of sizes, although what might have been considered small for the species would still be scary for us nowadays just based on their appearance.
In fact, researchers seem to agree that in the Mesozoic era, “oceans were probably the most dangerous in the entire history of our planet.”
James Starnes, of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality’s Office of Geology explained why the creature is so feared in a talk with the Hattiesburg American “This is a real sea monster. It’s almost as big as the mosasaurs,” he said.
George Phillips, curator of paleontology at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, also explained in the Hattiesburg American that what has been found is a seven-inch-wide backbone, which is about 17 centimeters. The one discovered is about 9 meters (30 feet), but this species reached 15 (50 feet) at its peak. “We find them from time to time, but to find one of this size is phenomenal. Its size left us stunned,” he said.
While this is not the first time a specimen like this has been found, it is still quite impressive to be able to find such well preserved fossils that can give insights to life in a past version of the Earth.