Plesiosaur Conservation status: Fossil The conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species continuing to survive. ...
Artistic recreation
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Reptilia Superorder: Sauropterygia Order: Plesiosauria de Blainville, 1835 ugly, replace if you can! File links The following pages link to this file: Plesiosaur User:Fredrik/Contributions Sauropterygia Categories: GFDL images ... Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ... Phyla Porifera (sponges) Ctenophora (comb jellies) Cnidaria Placozoa Bilateria Acoelomorpha Orthonectida Rhombozoa Myxozoa Superphylum Deuterostomia    Chordata (vertebrates, etc. ... Typical Classes Subphylum Urochordata - Tunicates Ascidiacea Thaliacea Larvacea Subphylum Cephalochordata - Lancelets Subphylum Myxini - Hagfishes Subphylum Vertebrata - Vertebrates Petromyzontida - Lampreys Placodermi (extinct) Chondrichthyes - Cartilaginous fishes Acanthodii (extinct) Actinopterygii - Ray-finned fishes Actinistia - Coelacanths Dipnoi - Lungfishes Amphibia - Amphibians Reptilia - Reptiles Aves - Birds Mammalia - Mammals Chordates (phylum Chordata) include the vertebrates, together with... Orders  Crocodylia - Crocodilians  Rhynchocephalia - Tuataras  Squamata   Suborder Sauria - Lizards   Suborder Serpentes - Snakes Testudines - Turtles Superorder Dinosauria  Saurischia  Ornithischia The reptiles are a group of vertebrate animals. ... Groups ?Placodontia Pachypleurosauridae Nothosauridae    Plesiosauria Sauropterygia (lizard flippers) is a group of very successful aquatic reptiles that flourished during the Age of the Dinosaurs before they became extinct. ... Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville (September 12, 1777 - May 1, 1850) was a French zoologist and anatomist. ... 1835 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...
Families
Cryptoclididae Elasmosauridae Plesiosauridae Pliosauridae Scientific classification or biological classification refers to how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ...

Plesiosaurs (PLEE-see-oh-SORES) were large, carnivorous aquatic reptiles. They are somewhat fancifully said to look like "a turtle with a string running through it", though they lacked a shell. Carnivores are animals that eat a diet consisting mostly of meat. ... Orders  Crocodylia - Crocodilians  Rhynchocephalia - Tuataras  Squamata   Suborder Sauria - Lizards   Suborder Serpentes - Snakes Testudines - Turtles Superorder Dinosauria  Saurischia  Ornithischia The reptiles are a group of vertebrate animals. ...

They first appeared in the late Triassic period and thrived until the K-T extinction at the end of the Cretaceous. Despite being large Mesozoic reptiles, they were not a type of dinosaur. Modern reports of plesiosaurs are usually explained as basking shark carcasses or hoaxes. The Triassic is a Geologic period that extends from about 248 to 202 million years (My or megayears) before the present. ... The Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T or KT) extinction event, also known as the KT boundary (the K is from kreta, the greek root of the word cretaceous, meaning chalk), was a period of massive extinction of species, about 65. ... The Cretaceous period is one of the major divisions of the geologic timescale, reaching from the end of the Jurassic period (about 135 mya) to the beginning of the Paleocene epoch of the Tertiary period (65 mya). ... The Mesozoic is one of three geologic eras of Phanerozoic eon. ... Orders Saurischia    Sauropodomorpha    Theropoda Ornithischia Dinosaurs are reptiles that dominated the terrestrial ecosystem for most of their 165-million year existence. ... Binomial name Cetorhinus maximus (Gunnerus, 1765) The Basking Shark (Cetorhinus maximus), also known as the Bone Shark, is the second largest fish alive, after the Whale Shark. ... A hoax is an attempt to trick an audience into believing that something false is real. ...

Description

The typical plesiosaur had a broad body and a short tail. They retained their ancestral two pairs of limbs, which evolved into large flippers. Plesiosaurs evolved from the earlier nothosaurs, who had a more crocodile-like body; major types of plesiosaur are primarily distinguished by head and neck size. This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The term flipper has a number of meanings: Flipper is the name of several TV series and films featuring extremely intelligent bottlenose dolphins of the same name. ... The neck is the part of the body on many limbed vertebrates that distinguishes the head from the torso or trunk. ...

As a group, the plesiosaurs were the largest aquatic animals of their time, and even the smallest were about 2 m (6.5 ft) long. They grew to be considerably larger than the largest giant crocodiles, and were bigger than their successors, the mosasaurs. However, their predecessors as rulers of the sea, the dolphin-like ichthyosaurs, are known to have reached 23 m in length, and the modern whale shark (18 m), sperm whale (20 m), and especially the blue whale (30 m) are known from considerably larger specimens. To help compare different orders of magnitude this page lists lengths between one metre and ten metres. ... Genera Crocodylus Osteolaemus Tomistoma A crocodile can be any of the 14 species of large, water-loving reptiles in the family Crocodylidae (sometimes classified instead as the subfamily Crocodylinae). ... Subfamilies Mosasaurinae Plioplatecarpinae Tylosaurinae A mosasaur was not a dinosaur, but rather an ocean-dwelling serpentine marine reptile related to monitor lizards. ... Genera See article below. ... Ichthyosaurs (Greek for fish lizards) were giant marine reptiles that resemble a dolphin with teeth (see convergent evolution). ... To help compare different orders of magnitude this page lists lengths between 10 m and 100 m. ... Binomial name Rhincodon typus Smith, 1828 The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is a large, distinctively marked member of the subclass Elasmobranchii of the class Chondrichthyes. ... Binomial name Physeter macrocephalus Linnaeus, 1758 Sperm Whale range The Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) is the largest of the toothed whales and is the largest toothed animal in the world. ... Binomial name Balaenoptera musculus (Linneus, 1758) Blue Whale range The Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is a marine mammal belonging to the suborder of baleen whales. ...

Behavior

Plesiosaurs have been discovered with fossils of belemnites (squid-like animals), and ammonites (giant nautilus-like molluscs) associated with their stomachs. They had powerful jaws, probably strong enough to bite through the hard shells of their prey. The bony fish (Osteichthyes), started to spread in the Jurassic, and were likely prey as well. FOSSIL is a standard for allowing serial communication for telecommunications programs under DOS. FOSSIL stands for Fido Opus Seadog Standard Interface Layer and was made by a group of Fidonet sysops to make their software work on different machines. ... Extinct Orders Aulacocerida Phragmoteuthida Belemnitida Diplobelida Belemnoteuthina Belemnites (or belemnoids) are an extinct group of marine cephalopod, very similar in many ways to the modern squid and closely related to the modern cuttlefish. ... Suborders Myopsina Oegopsina Squids are the large, diverse group of marine mollusks, popular as food in cuisines as widely separated as the Japanese and the Italian. ... This article is about the marine animal. ... Species Allonautilus perforatus Allonautilus scrobiculatus Nautilus belauensis Nautilus macromphalus Nautilus pompilius pompilius Nautilus pompilius suluensis Nautilus stenomphalus The nautilus is a marine creature of the class Cephalopoda. ... Classes Caudofoveata Aplacophora Polyplacophora - Chitons Monoplacophora Bivalvia - Bivalves Scaphopoda - Tusk shells Gastropoda - Snails and Slugs Cephalopoda - Squids, Octopuses, etc. ... For other uses of the word jaws, see jaws (disambiguation). ... Subclasses Actinopterygii Sarcopterygii Osteichthyes are the bony fish, a group paraphyletic to the land vertebrates, which are sometimes included. ...

No eggs or evidence of live birth has been discovered, but it has been theorized that smaller plesiosaurs may have crawled up on a beach to lay their eggs, like the modern leatherback turtle. Egg has multiple meanings. ... A live birth of a human being occurs when a fetus is expelled and separated from the mothers body and subsequently shows some sign of life, such as voluntary movement, heartbeat, or pulsation of the umbilical cord, for however brief a time. ... Binomial name Dermochelys coriacea (Vandelli, 1761) The Leatherback Sea Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) is the biggest of all turtles alive, reaching a length of 2 metres and a weight of up to 1500 lb (600 kg). ...

Another curiosity is their four-flippered design. No modern animals have this swimming adaptation, so there is considerable speculation about what kind of stroke they used. While the short-necked pliosaurs may have been fast swimmers, the long-necked varieties were built more for maneuverability than for speed. Skeletons have also been discovered with gastroliths in their stomachs, probably to help with buoyancy. Gastroliths (gizzard stones) are rocks which are usually found in association with fossils of herbivorous animals thought to lack teeth, such as birds or, further in the past, dinosaurs. ... In physics, buoyancy is an upward force on an object immersed in a fluid (i. ...

Families

The earliest group of plesiosaurs, the plesiosaurids, had small heads and long necks. They evolved about 220 million years ago in the late Triassic, and were the first major group of plesiosaurs to became extinct, about 175 million years ago in the early Jurassic. Mega-annum, usually abbreviated as Ma, is a unit of time equal to one million years. ... The Jurassic period is a major unit of the geologic timescale that extends from about 195 million years BP at the end of the Triassic to 135 million years BP at the beginning of the Cretaceous. ...

The next group of plesiosaurs was characterized by a large head and a short neck, and are collectively known as pliosaurs. The largest pliosaurs, such as Kronosaurus, had jaws 3 m (10 ft) long, and may have reached up to 12–15 m (40–50 ft) in length, and weighed more than 10,000 kg (11 tons). Isolated vertebrae and teeth from England may belong to specimens up to 20 m (65 ft) long, and weighing perhaps 20,000 kg (22 tons). Species (type) ? Kronosaurus (pronounced Kroe-noe-sore-uss) was one of the sea reptiles known as pliosaurs — a member of the plesiosaur group, but in the Pliosauridae family, with the distinctive feature of a much shorter, thicker neck. ... To help compare different orders of magnitude this page lists lengths between one metre and ten metres. ... To help compare different orders of magnitude this page lists lengths between 10 m and 100 m. ... (Redirected from 1 E4 kg) Categories: Orders of magnitude (mass) ... A diagram of a thoracic vertebra. ... Types of teeth Molars are used for grinding up foods Carnassials are used for slicing food. ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Religion...

Pliosaurs had thick, conical teeth, and were the top carnivores of their domain. They fed on other marine reptiles, including their relatives — pliosaur teeth marks have been discovered on other plesiosaurs, like the cryptoclidids. The pliosaurs evolved about 200 million years ago, in the early Jurassic, and became extinct about 80 million years ago in the Cretaceous. Euryapsids Plesiosaurs Ichthyosaurs placodonts Diapsids mosasaurs marine crocodiles marine Iguanas Categories: Lists of animals | Reptiles ...

The third group also had a long neck and a tiny head, and were known as the cryptoclidids. Overall, they were shorter and more gracile than the plesiosaurids, but had longer necks in proportion to their body length. Their teeth were also small and slender, and may have been used to filter food from the sediment in shallow coastal waters. They first appeared about 160 million years ago at the end of the Jurassic period, and lasted until the extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous, about 65 million years ago. Sediment is any particulate matter that can be transported by fluid flow and which eventually is deposited as a layer of solid particles on the bed or bottom of a body of water or other liquid. ... An extinction event (also extinction-level event, ELE) is a period in time when a large number of species die out. ...

The last group, the elasmosaurs, took the long-neck and tiny head tendency to extremes. They were the longest, reaching from 13–17 m (42–56 ft) in length, but most of that was neck; they weighed much less than the more massive pliosaurs. They had up to 72 bones in their neck (vertebrae), more than any other animal. They lived at the same time as the cryptolidids, so they must have filled a different ecological niche. See Elasmosaurus for the typical genus. To help compare different orders of magnitude this page lists lengths between 10 m and 100 m. ... In ecology, a niche is a term describing the relational position of a species or population in an ecosystem. ... Genera Elasmosaurus (meaning thin-plated lizard) is a plesiosaur with an extremely long neck that lived in the late Cretaceous. ...

Classification and history

The plesiosaur is one of the earliest fossils identified by paleontologists, along with the Mosasaurus, and the dinosaur Iguanodon. The first specimen, belonging to the Plesiosaurus genus, was found in 1821 by Mary Anning, in the Oxford Clay deposits near Lyme Regis, England, and she found the first good specimen just three years later. The species was formally described and named by Henry de la Beche and William Daniel Conybeare in 1821. The name they chose means "near lizard", dervived from the Greek plesios ("near") and sauros ("lizard"). The Plesiosauria taxon was named by Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville in 1835. A paleontologist carefully chips rock from a column of dinosaur vertebrae. ... Species (type) Iguanodon was the first dinosaur recognized, the second dinosaur formally named and described, and with Megalosaurus and Hylaeosaurus, one of the three originally used to define the new classification, Dinosauria. ... Families Cryptoclididae Elasmosauridae Plesiosauridae Pliosauridae Plesiosaurs (PLEE-see-oh-SORES) were large, carnivorous aquatic reptiles. ... 1821 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Mary Anning (May 21, 1799 - March 9, 1847) was an early British fossil collector and paleontologist. ... Oxford Clay is a Jurassic marine sedimentary rock underlying much of South East England from as far West as Dorset and as far North as Yorkshire. ... Categories: Stub | Towns in Dorset | English seaside resorts ... William Daniel Conybeare (June 7, 1787 - August 12, 1857), dean of Llandaff, one of the most distinguished of English geologists, who was born in London, was a grandson of John Conybeare, bishop of Bristol (1602-1785), a notable preacher and divine, and son of Dr William Conybeare, rector of Bishopsgate. ... This page is about Lizards, the order of reptile. ... Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville (September 12, 1777 - May 1, 1850) was a French zoologist and anatomist. ...

Most of the plesiosaur material discovered in the 19th century was from the same deposits. Sir Richard Owen alone named almost a hundred new species. Despite this, however, plesiosaurs are very poorly known. Most of the new "species" were described based on a few isolated bones, without sufficient diagnostic characteristics to separate them from any of the other species that had previously been described. Many of these species have since been invalidated, but insufficent work has been done in the past century to clean up this taxonomic mess. The genera Plesiosaurus in particular is problematic. Most of the new species were placed there, so the taxon is a dumping ground for an almost random collection of bones. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sir Richard Owen and Dinornis bird skeleton Sir Richard Owen (July 20, 1804 - December 18, 1892) was an English biologist, comparative anatomist and palaeontologist. ...

Two other factors make it difficult to classify plesiosaurs. While they have been found on every continent, including Antarctica, almost all specimens are known from either the late Jurassic Oxford Clay in England where the first specimen was found, or from the middle Cretaceous Niobrara Chalk in Kansas, in the United States. Since only two links in a large evolutionary chain are well known, it is hard to extrapolate the large stretch in between. State nickname: The Sunflower State Other U.S. States Capital Topeka Largest city Wichita Governor Kathleen Sebelius Official languages None Area 82,277 mi²; 213,096 km² (15th)  - Land 81,815 mi²; 211,900 km²  - Water 462 mi²; 1,196 km² (0. ...

Plesiosaurs also have another problem. The traditional way to classify plesiosaurs is by their gross body shape, but it appears the same body shape evolved multiple times in an example of convergent evolution. Recent analysis shows that the extremely long-necked elasmosaurs are actually descended from at least three unrelated lineages, making the taxon polyphyletic. Some pliosaurs may also be more closely related to long-necked species than other short-necked species. The four major groupings, while convenient, do not appear to be based on actual evolutionary relationships. In evolutionary biology, convergent evolution describes the process whereby organisms not closely related independently acquire similar characteristics while evolving in separate and sometimes varying ecosystems. ... In biology, a taxon is polyphyletic if it is descended from more than one root form (in Greek poly = many and phyletic = racial). ...

Recent discoveries

In 2002, the "Monster of Aramberri" was announced to the press. Discovered in 1982 at the village of Aramberri, in the Mexican state of Nuevo León, it was originally classified as a dinosaur. The specimen is actually a very large pliosaur, possibly reaching 15 m (50 ft) in length. The media published exaggerated reports claiming it was 25 m (80 ft) long, and weighed up to 150,000 kg, which made it the largest predator of all time. This error was perpetuated in BBC's documentary series Walking with Dinosaurs, which also prematurely classified it as a Liopleurodon ferox. Other Mexican States Capital Monterrey Other major cities list of municipalities Area 64,924 km² Ranked 13th Population (2000 census) 3,826,240 Ranked 9th Governor (2003-09) José Natividad González Parás (PRI/PVEM) Federal Deputies (11) PRI/PVEM = 10 PAN = 1 Federal Senators PAN = 2 PRI = 1 ISO 3166... (Redirected from 1 E5 kg) Categories: Orders of magnitude (mass) ... The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was formed in 1927 by means of a royal charter from the Crown. ... A documentary is a work in a visual or auditory medium presenting political, scientific, social, or historical subjects in a factual and informative manner. ... Walking with Dinosaurs is a 1999 six-part television series produced by the BBC and narrated by Kenneth Branagh. ... Liopleurodon was an enormous Pliosaur from the Jurassic period, living between 165-150 million years ago. ...

In 2004, what appears to be a 100 percent intact juvenile plesiosaur was discovered at Bridgwater Bay National Nature Reserve in the United Kingdom, by a local fisherman. The fossil measures 1.5 m (5 ft) in length, and may be related to the Rhomaleosaurus. It is probably the best preserved specimen of a plesiosaur ever discovered. Bridgwater Bay is on the estuary of the River Severn, near Bridgwater in Somerset, United Kingdom at the mouth of the River Parrett. ...

In fiction

The plesiosaur is popular among children and cryptozoologists, and appears in a number of children's books, and several films. It has appeared in films about lake monsters, including Magic in the Water (1995), and movies about the Loch Ness Monster, such as Loch Ness (1996). In both films, the creature primarily serves as a symbol of a lost, child-like sense of wonder. Cryptozoology is the study of rumored or mythological animals that are presumed to exist, but for which conclusive proof does not yet exist; or are generally considered extinct, but occasionally reported. ... Basic Characteristics There is some debate as to what constitutes childrens literature. ... Film refers to the celluloid media on which movies are printed Film is a term that encompasses motion pictures as individual projects, as well as the field in general. ... Lake monster is the name given to large unknown animals which have purportedly been sighted in, and/or are believed to dwell in lakes, although their existence has never been confirmed scientifically. ... The famous Surgeons photo hoax of the Loch Ness monster The Loch Ness Monster—sometimes called Nessie—is a creature or group of creatures said to live in Loch Ness, a deep freshwater loch (lake) near the city of Inverness. ...

Contrary to reports, the long-necked, sharp-toothed creature in the classic film King Kong (1933) — which flips a raft full of rescuers on their way to save Fay Wray, and then munches on the swimmers — is not a plesiosaur. Despite striking a profile in the mist very similar to the famous "Surgeon's Photo" of the Loch Ness Monster, it then chases the routed heroes onto dry land, where it is clearly intended to be a sauropod, like the Brontosaurus (now Apatosaurus). King Kong is a classic 1933 Hollywood horror/adventure film from RKO about a gigantic prehistoric gorilla, brought from a remote island to New York City to be exhibited as a natural wonder, that escapes to cause mass destruction. ... Vina Fay Wray (September 15, 1907 - August 8, 2004) was a Canadian-born American actress. ... Families Brachiosauridae Camarasauridae Cetiosauridae Diplodocidae Euhelopodidae Nemegtosauridae Titanosauridae Vulcanodontidae Sauropoda, the sauropods, are a suborder or infraorder of the saurischian (lizard-hipped) dinosaurs. ... Species Apatosaurus ajax Apatosaurus excelsius Apatosaurus louisae Apatosaurus, formerly known as Brontosaurus, is a genus of sauropod dinosaurs that lived about about 140 million years ago, during the Jurassic period. ...

Loch Ness and lake monsters

The "Surgeon's Photo" of the Loch Ness Monster. In November 1993, Christian Spurling confessed on his deathbed that he made it from a toy submarine and putty.

Main articles: sea monster, lake monster, Loch Ness Monster Hoaxed photo of the Loch Ness monster. ... Hoaxed photo of the Loch Ness monster. ... The famous Surgeons photo hoax of the Loch Ness monster The Loch Ness Monster—sometimes called Nessie—is a creature or group of creatures said to live in Loch Ness, a deep freshwater loch (lake) near the city of Inverness. ... Picture taken from a Hetzel copy of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea Sea monsters are mythical and legendary gigantic sea-dwelling creatures (but see also lake monsters). ... Lake monster is the name given to large unknown animals which have purportedly been sighted in, and/or are believed to dwell in lakes, although their existence has never been confirmed scientifically. ... The famous Surgeons photo hoax of the Loch Ness monster The Loch Ness Monster—sometimes called Nessie—is a creature or group of creatures said to live in Loch Ness, a deep freshwater loch (lake) near the city of Inverness. ...

Lake or sea monsters sightings are occasionally explained as plesiosaurs. While the survival of a small, unrecorded breeding colony of plesiosaurs for the 65,000,000 years since their apparent extinction is unlikely, the discovery of real and even more ancient living fossils like the Coelacanth, and previously unknown but enormous deep-sea animals like the colossal squid have have fueled imaginations. However, none of these reports have stood up to scientific scrutiny. Picture taken from a Hetzel copy of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea Sea monsters are mythical and legendary gigantic sea-dwelling creatures (but see also lake monsters). ... Living fossil is a term for any living species (or clade) which closely resembles species otherwise only known from fossils and has no close living relatives. ... Species Latimeria chalumnae Latimeria menadoensis Coelacanth (meaning hollow spine in Greek; IPA: ) is a fish species and represents the oldest lineage of living fish known to date. ... Binomial name Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni (Robson, 1925) The Colossal Squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) is the largest known type of squid and the only species in its genus, Mesonychoteuthis. ...

The 1977 discovery of a carcass with flippers and what appeared to be a long neck and head by the Japanese fishing trawler Zuiyo Maru off New Zealand created a plesiosaur craze in Japan, but later analysis suggested it was actually a decayed basking shark. Fishing from a Pier Fishing is both the recreation and sport of catching fish (for food or as a trophy), and the commercial fishing industry of catching or harvesting seafood (either fish or other aquatic life-forms, such as shellfish). ... Categories: Water-transport stubs | Ship types ... Binomial name Cetorhinus maximus (Gunnerus, 1765) The Basking Shark (Cetorhinus maximus), also known as the Bone Shark, is the second largest fish alive, after the Whale Shark. ...

The Loch Ness Monster is commonly reported to resemble a plesiosaur, though just as frequently the creature described bears little or no resemblance. In addition, the lake is too cold for a cold-blooded animal to easily survive, air-breathing animals like plesiosaurs would be easily spotted when they surface to breathe, the lake is too small to support a breeding colony, and the loch itself was only formed 10,000 years ago during the last ice age. The sightings can be explained as some combination of waves, floating debris, mist-mirages, swimming animals (like the otter, which can reach 6 ft in length), and hoaxes. Cold-blooded organisms, more technically known as poikilothermic, are animals that have no internal metabolic mechanism for regulating their body temperatures. ... Variations in CO2, temperature and dust from the Vostok ice core over the last 400 000 years For the animated movie, see Ice Age (movie). ... A wave crashing against the shore A wave is a disturbance that propagates. ... A road mirage, a type of inferior mirage A mirage is an optical phenomenon which often occurs naturally. ... Genera Amblonyx Aonyx Enhydra Lontra Lutra Lutrogale Pteronura Otters are aquatic or marine carnivorous mammals, members of the large and diverse family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, polecats, badgers and others. ...

The National Museum of Scotland confirmed that vertebrae discovered on the shores of Loch Ness in 2003 belong to a plesiosaur, though there are some questions about whether the fossils were planted. In any case, the 150,000,000 year-old fossils vastly predate the formation of the loch. A diagram of a thoracic vertebra. ... Loch Ness (Scottish Gaelic: Loch Nis) is a large, deep freshwater lake (known in Scotland as a loch) in the Scottish Highlands, extending for approximately 37 km (23 miles) southwest of Inverness. ... FOSSIL is a standard for allowing serial communication for telecommunications programs under DOS. FOSSIL stands for Fido Opus Seadog Standard Interface Layer and was made by a group of Fidonet sysops to make their software work on different machines. ...

External links

• The Plesiosaur Site (http://www.plesiosaur.com/). Richard Forrest.
• Plesiosaur FAQ's (http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/9020/plesiosaur/). Raymond Thaddeus C. Ancog.
• Oceans of Kansas Paleontology (http://www.oceansofkansas.com/Oceans). Mike Everhart.
• "Plesiosaur fossil found in Bridgwater Bay (http://www.somerset.gov.uk/museums/PLESIO.htm)". Somersert Museums County Service. (best known fossil)
• "Fossil hunters turn up 50-ton monster of prehistoric deep (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-2-527486,00.html)". Allan Hall and Mark Henderson. Times Online, December 30, 2002. (Monster of Aramberri)
• "A Jurassic fossil discovered in Loch Ness by a Scots pensioner could be the original Loch Ness monster, according to Nessie enthusiasts (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/3069803.stm)". BBC News, July 16, 2003. (Loch Ness, possible hoax)
• "Sea-monster or shark? an analysis of a supposed plesiosaur carcass netted in 1977 (http://paleo.cc/paluxy/plesios.htm)". Glen J. Kuban. Reports of the National Center for Science Education, May/June 1997, volume 17, number 3, pages 16–28.