#kaiwhekea

[sherlocktheravencat]

Wetscale

[cervidaecorpse]

Thalassophobia

[justgoji]

Kaiwhekea katiki, chasing a shrimp.

For this drawing I tried to make something without using line art, but if I had to be honest, it would’ve looked much better had I used line art.

[cheetahtrout]

Paleostream theme was vertebrate bioluminescense. But since I couldnt think of a biolum vert that looked reasonable, I cheated and had Kaiwhekea swim through bioluminiscent algae, like you find them in the maledives.

[drhoz]

#2728 - Kaiwhekea katiki - Shag Point Elasmosaur

The bionomial means 'Kātiki Beach squid-eater'.

An elasmosaur found inside a single silty sandstone concretion at Shag Point, and Aotearoa's largest known fossil. Its relationship to other known species remains a matter of debate, as for that matter is the taxonomy of extinct marine reptiles in general.

The large eyes and small teeth suggest a diet of squid from deep water - much like many of the toothed whales of today.

When it died 70 million years ago it settled into the sediment on its right side. Parts of the front flippers and tail are missing - possibly eaten by scavengers.

It was discovered in 1983 by Gary Raper, an amateur fossil collector, and dragged up from the beach on a sledge made from a car bonnet. The species is featured in the Path of Titans dinosaur MMO, too, apparently.

Otago Museum, Dunedin, Aotearoa New Zealand. More from there later.

[palaeofail]

I want to put them out of their misery…..