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Plesiosaurs swam to coastal waters to vomit, fossils reveal
Paleontologist Dirk Knaust has identified fossilized vomit, known as regurgitalites, which provides new insights into the feeding habits of Jurassic plesiosaurs. The specimens, ranging in size from walnuts to mangoes, were discovered within drill cores from the North Sea near Norway’s Troll gas field.
Analysis of the regurgitalites revealed a mixture of bivalve shells, worm tubes, sea lilies, and belemnites. Because these prey species required stable marine salinity, but were found in river delta sediments, Knaust suggests that the plesiosaurs hunted in deeper, saltier waters before swimming toward shallower coastal areas to expel indigestible remains.
The findings suggest that these long-necked marine reptiles, specifically from the Cryptoclididae family, likely used a method of purging similar to modern owls, seals, or saltwater crocodiles. This behavior allowed them to process soft tissues while discarding hard skeletal materials like shells.
Entities
Dirk Knaust · Equinor · Plesiosaur · University of Cambridge
Claims
What the coverage asserts, and how many sources carry each claim.
- [● 3 SOURCES] Plesiosaurians likely vomited after hunting to rest or sleep near the coast. www.allgaeuer-zeitung.de · www.dattelner-morgenpost.de · www.marler-zeitung.de
- [● 3 SOURCES] Plesiosaurians survived various mass extinctions for more than 140 million years. www.allgaeuer-zeitung.de · www.dattelner-morgenpost.de · www.marler-zeitung.de
- [● 3 SOURCES] Paleontologist Dirk Knaust analyzed over 20 fossilized regurgitaliths found in North Sea drill cores. www.allgaeuer-zeitung.de · www.dattelner-morgenpost.de · www.marler-zeitung.de
- [● 3 SOURCES] The fossilized remains are attributed to Cryptoclidids, a medium-sized type of Plesiosaur. www.allgaeuer-zeitung.de · www.dattelner-morgenpost.de · www.marler-zeitung.de