Largest Ichthyosaur Ever Discovered!

[suspsy]

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/04/prehistoric-sea-monster-largest-size-blue-whale-fossils-science/

Yes, it's even bigger than Shonisaurus!

[SBell]

Hopefully, once the material is compiled better, we will have a better understanding of its life habits.

[Faelrin]

I didn't think I'd ever hear about an icthyosaur being this huge. Granted I wasn't even aware that Shonisaurus was that big to begin with. I really ought to do some more research on these.

[mgaguilar]

If I read that correctly, they previously mistakenly assumed that several of the fossils were from terrestrial individuals?
Wow, this might yield some pretty amazing discoveries.

[Halichoeres]

The actual fossil:

It's fragmentary enough that, yes, based on its size it was assumed to be a dinosaur or something.

Paper is open access: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/figure/image?size=large&id=info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0194742.g005

[Archosauria]

Wow, and I thought Shonisaurus was large!
Incredible discovery!

[Halichoeres]

More on this: http://blogs.plos.org/paleocomm/2018/04/11/a-case-of-mesozoic-misidentification/

[Prehistory Resurrection]

It may be Shastasaurus if I am not mistaken, a new specimen, or a new genus of itchthyosaur.

[Lone Trike]

I wonder if these huge Ichthyosaurs were filter feeders, as most huge marine animals today are.

[ITdactyl]

It would be neat if they were filter feeders.  On that note, have any ichthyosaurs ever been described as filter-feeders?  In my mind, with all the calamari floating around, the large ones would most likely be suction feeders.

[Lone Trike]

I like the idea of them being basically giant vacuum cleaners I just googled it and found this National Geographic article. Shonisaurus sikanniensis is mentioned there a filter-feeder. However the scientific paper by Nicholls and Manabe, the article is based on, is not open-access unfortunately!

[Neosodon]

It would be neat if they were filter feeders.  On that note, have any ichthyosaurs ever been described as filter-feeders?  In my mind, with all the calamari floating around, the large ones would most likely be suction feeders.

I'd like to see an artists rendition of a filter feeding icthyosaur. Would they still have long narrow beaks?

[stegosauria]

Not all recent giant marine creature is filter-feeder. The sperm whale hunts squids and it can grow up to 20 metres in length. The first whales also were active fish eaters and I wouldn't consider Basilosaurus as a small creature.