Ancient Sea Reptiles: Plesiosaurs, Ichthyosaurs, Mosasaurs, and More

By Darren Naish

Book Overview

Dive into prehistoric waters and discover extraordinary sea monsters who reigned the ocean for 150 million years

Ancient Sea Reptiles: Plesiosaurs, Ichthyosaurs, Mosasaurs, and More examines the anatomy, behavior, diversity, lifestyle, and evolutionary rise of creatures who conquered the seas for 150 million years during the Mesozoic era. Expert paleontologist Darren Naish puts these fearsome and mighty creatures under the microscope and transports readers to wild and primeval waters. In this gorgeously illustrated book, amazing creatures leap off the page, including:

Mosasaurs, known as "T-Rexes of the deep"Cretaceous sea snakesLong-necked plesiosaursCrocodile-like thalattosuchians, the earliest sea turtlesAncient Sea Reptiles features fossil photography and artistic reconstructions of ancient creatures, from evolutionary anomalies to apex predators who survived extinction events, with chapters that include:

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Evolution
Chapter 3: Anatomy
Chapter 4: The lesser-known groups: mesosaurs, Triassicsauropterygians, Cretaceous sea snakes and more
Chapter 5: Shark-shaped reptiles: the ichthyosaurs and their kin
Chapter 6: Long necks, big mouths: the plesiosaurs
Chapter 7: Sea crocs: the thalattosuchians
Chapter 8: Mosasaurs: the great sea lizards
Chapter 9: Sea Turtles

More than 80 percent of the world's vast ocean is unmapped and unobserved, prompting the imagination to run wild on what might lurk in its depths. But Ancient Sea Reptiles proves that what stirs the imagination even more are the spectacular prehistoric creatures that have already been discovered. The book is a feast for the eyes and the scientific mind.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1588348172
• ISBN13: 9781588348173
• Release Date: October 2025
• Publisher: Smithsonian Books
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 1.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 7.5" x 9.9"