How many modern marine reptiles can you name? I count two,
broadly speaking: sea turtles and marine iguanas. Back in the Cretaceous, there
were a few others. Many of the world’s oceans hosted the deadly mosasaurs,
which were essentially marine-adapted monitor lizards. You also had the
familiar but puzzling plesiosaurs; with their long necks, tiny heads, and wide
rounded bodies, it’s still difficult to determine exactly how they made their
living. Also still going strong were the ichthyosaurs—dolphin-shaped marine
lizards with huge eyes and a taste for cephalopods. Marine iguanas weren’t a
thing yet, but sea turtles were actually more diverse (and bigger) than they
are today.
