Daily Dino Fact: Liopleurodon gets outdone by a cousin

Q: What was the longest sea reptile in the dinosaur era? -Irvine

A: Great question Irvine. The Mesozoic was populated with a whole host of incredible sea

reptiles that terrorized everything else in the sea. We’ve talked about Liopleurodon before, who

was the largest of them all but the longest is actually Mauisaurus.

Like Liopleurodon, Mauisaurus was a plesiosaur. Mauisaurus measured out to be a whopping

65ft (20m) in length and was the longest sea reptile of them all. Found only in New Zealand

fossil beds, Mauisaurus must have been a fearsome predator during its day. They’ve even found

a fossil of one fighting a mosasaur!

-Rex