Popular Science: This 'blue dragon' sliced through ancient Pacific

Popular Science highlighted a study by the University of Cincinnati describing a mosasaur new to science discovered in Japan.

The Wakayama Soryu or “blue dragon” hunted waters off what is now Japan, according to the paper published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.

The mosasaur was the size of a great white shark. But it had unusual features for mosasaurs, including a relatively shorter set of jaws, longer flippers and a dorsal fin based on the orientation of neural spines that resemble those of harbor porpoises.

“It’s still hypothetical and speculative to some extent, but that distinct change in neural spine orientation behind a presumed center of gravity is consistent with today’s toothed whales that have dorsal fins, like dolphins and porpoises,” Konishi said.

Read the Popular Science story.

Featured image at top: University of Cincinnati Associate Professor Takuya Konishi describes a mosasaur from Japan called the Wakayama Soryu. Illustration/Takumi