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

Ancient Sea Reptiles, which reflects the latest information in text and diagrams while remaining readable, may be the best ever book on this topic for a general audience.An excellent Introduction sets up our voyage into the Mesozoic. Naish explains land masses, climate, temperatures (until recently no one was sure whether marine reptiles braved cold seas), and a capsule history of discoveries by naturalists and paleontologists. The first ichthyosaurs, mosasaurs, and plesiosaurs came out of Europe in 18th and 19th centuries. More discoveries came out of North America, although Edward Drinker Cope in 1869 delayed proper study of his stunning Elasmosaurus by mistaking the neck for the tail and putting the skull on the wrong end. More mosasaurs and plesiosaurs also came out of North America, supplemented in modern times by marine reptile finds all over the world: from Australia, Morocco, China, and many other places.Diving into evolution, Naish straightens out the convoluted mess of theories, family trees, and cladograms. These lead to the predominant modern hypothesis, that all the marine reptiles form a superclade descended from a common ancestor. That ancestor may resemble Womengosaurus, 255 million years old. The evolution within the clade was complex. With nearly 200 million years of changing conditions and evolutionary pressures, bodies responded in all kinds of different ways. Not only did the same body plans appear (and reappear) from different reptilian lineages, but similar body plans were shared among creatures as different as ichthyosaurs, cetaceans, and fishes.Each of the major groups gets a chapter, but first Naish shows us in Chapter 4 the marine reptiles were much more diverse than is generally known, not to mention weirder. Mesosaurs, a bit crocodilian to our eyes, prowled the shallows and ventured on land. Placodonts looked like bony, husky, broad-bodied marine lizards. The platyochelids looked like bizarre turtles with shells of heavy scales. Nothosaurs had long, shallow skulls, a bit alligatorish. Then there’s Tanystropheus, with a neck as long as the body and tail put together. There were sea snakes, too, some with tiny hind limbs.The ichthyosaurs looked the most like modern fishers or cetaceans. They were around more than 100 million years from the 1-meter (m) types of the early Triassic to the amazing shastosaurs, which reached 21 m and probably longer. They split into many groups and evolved countless variations. Some had enormous eyes indicating they didn’t let the need for oxygen keep them from diving deep to hunt fish and squid.The plesiosaurs might be the most famous group of all. Naish notes the media stars are the elasmosaurs, with their extremely long necks, but necks and skulls came in all lengths and thicknesses. (For 130 million years, the plesiosaurs evolved, differentiated, and even produced the pliosaurids, which had massive heads and short (sometimes almost absent) necks. Theses include the giant Liopleurodon, once estimated at 25 m but really well under half that (still a giant!) and Kronosaurus, up to 11 m long.Naish spends some time on the interesting and still disputed topic of just how these creatures swam. Were they underwater flyers, like penguins? Rowers? It now looks more complex, with precisely synchronized fore and hind paddle movements for top efficiency.The thalattosuchians were the ocean-going crocodylomorphs, though unrelated to modern crocodiles. The mosasaurs were, literally, huge seagoing lizards. One branch, the tylosaurines, produced giants 14 meters long. Mosasaurus itself might have grown as long as 18 m, although the Jurassic Park films make it the size of a small U-boat.Finally, we have the sea turtles. On group, the protostegids, which may not have been turtles at all, is extinct. This is unfortunate, since it produced the spectacular Archelon, from North America, 4.6 m long. The others are the hard-shelled turtles, relatives of those still with us today, and the leatherbacks, which swam pretty much unconcernedly through the K-Pg event.The illustrations are superb throughout. The book offers a plethora of photographed fossils, artwork, and line drawings which connect us to the creatures being discussed and to the technical topics like the importance of salt glands. The diagrams of evolutionary relationships are equally helpful.It’s not a perfect book. I give it 5 stars for content, but if I could rate the publisher separately, I’d give them four. While Naish gives many sources in text, there are no footnotes, endnotes, or other citations and only a token bibliography. Finally, the book just ends. There are two lines on the future of the oceans at the end of the turtle chapter, and it just stops. Naish had more material he could not incorporate, but even a short summary of this broad topic would make it feel more complete.The marine reptiles, then, were a group of astonishing numbers, variations, and sizes. Naish has given us the best guide in print to these creatures and their world. An exciting aspect, threaded throughout the book, is that discoveries, theories, and analysis of these animals is progressing faster than ever before. Naish may even need to revise this superb book in ten years or so.

Nice book focused on marine reptiles of the Mesozoic Era. Author characterizes five different groups and devotes a chapter on each. There are plenty of nice pictures and comparisons and the writing and explanations are thorough but not complicated for the lay person.

This is a Smithsonian book and like all Smithsonian books it is wonderfully written and beautifully illustrated. This book covers all aspects of ancient sea reptiles from their discovery, how they were perceived to be and how scientists have changed their ways of looking at them through the ages. It describes all aspects of their biology such as morphology and physiology and so much more. If you are interested in prehistoric sea reptiles than I urge you to buy a copy of this book. It is really a volume you will want to read.

Extensive and comprehensive research on all major and minor groups of marine reptiles. Illustrations are magnificent and meticulously detailed,several of which depict some of the most massive Ichthyosaurs known to have existed. This is excellent because they typically receive far less attention than pliosaurs and plesiosaurs. Marine crocodiles like Dakosaurus that evolved to live a completely aquatic lifestyle also receive significant coverage here. Commentary is engaging and thought-provoking. My only complaint is that the book was originally slated to have a final chapter titled “after the Mesozoic” which likely would have dealt with some of the unusual prehistoric whales that swooped in to fill many of the niches previously occupied by these awesome reptiles,but sadly this is not present in the final product.

Bought this for my six year old. Didn’t realize it was this textbook like. Looks like great information for the college kids though.

It has lots of really interesting information about ancient sea reptiles and it comes illustrated! I really like the author's writing style as well. If you are a fan of ancient life, a student, researcher, paleontologist, etc...this is a must-have in your reference collection!

A great read for Dinosaur aficionado's, Great illustrations and an in depth study of aquatic Dinos

Lo utilizo como Bobbie, me encanta leer sobre dinosaurios , reptiles marinos y voladores

Best one in the subject, enjoyable and acurarei

Es exactamente lo que espero de un libro sobre vida prehistórica: bien detallado, con el perfecto equilibrio entre lenguaje técnico y uno más digerible para aficionados, ilustrado a la perfección con grandísimas reconstrucciones y fotografías de fósiles, y con una gran calidad de impresión. Simplemente es maravilloso.

The book is well presented and ties all the information together. If you are really interested in the subject, you need to get Gregory Paul's book "The Princeton Field Guide to Mesozoic Sea Reptiles" which is the more comprehensive study on them.

Bellissimo libro. Il tema trattato è affascinante e interessante. Naish è una garanzia con questo tipo di letture per il linguaggio utilizzato tecnico ma accessibile anche per i meno esperti. Il libro è un inglese assolutamente fruibile.

The book itself is top notch and worth five stars.What bothers me, is the delivery. My copy looks like someone sat down on it or kicked it through the door...Not cool, Amazon!