66 million year-old 'nightmarish' sea sea lizard fossil unearthed in Morocco

A recent excavation in Morocco revealed the fossil of a “nightmarish” sea lizard named “Khinjaria acuta.”

This orca-sized creature, boasting dagger-like teeth, hunted the ancient oceans alongside dinosaurs 66 million years ago, according to the BBC.

This 26-foot (8-meter) long predator was discovered based on analysis of a skull and other skeletal remains unearthed at a mine in the kingdom.

Khinjaria acuta, a member of the mosasaur family, distant relatives of modern Komodo dragons and anacondas, was “just one out of a range of top predators that inhabited the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Morocco” during the Cretaceous period.

“This is one of the most diverse marine faunas seen anywhere, at any time in history, and it existed just before the marine reptiles and the dinosaurs went extinct,” said Nick Longrich, leading the study from the University of Bath in England.

He described the creature as having “a demon’s face and teeth like knives.”

Researchers emphasized that the teeth and robust jaw contribute to “its nightmarish appearance and terrible biting force,” reports the same source.

Speaking of the jaw, Longrich highlighted that its lower ones “could expand to eat huge prey” and the creature’s size was much larger than that of the largest white shark.

The first name of this demon’s face creature is derived from “Khinjar”, the Arabic equivalent to “dagger”, while “acuta” is a Latin word for sharp, explained the lead scientist of this study.

The recently discovered creature lived alongside dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops around 66 million years ago before they went extinct.

“This incredible diversity of top predators in the Late Cretaceous is unusual and we don’t see that in modern marine communities,” stated Longrich.

He went on to emphasize that “this was an incredibly dangerous time to be a fish, a sea turtle, or even a marine reptile.”