Plesiosaurs are cool.

Plesiosaurs feed (I say “feed” and not “fed” for reasons which will become obvious in a few minutes) on both fish and squid…what can one find in the oceans? Fish and squids.

Plesiosaurs have 4 flippers, much like a dolphin’s, for extreme maneuverability. Plesiosaurs went extinct in the late Cretaceous period…or did they?

Let’s investigate.

The Coelacanth, perhaps the most famous of prehistoric fish (because the species continues to exist even today!), is direct evidence that prehistoric species can survive the test of evolutionary time. Once thought to be extinct, the coelacanth has been found in marine waters of many African states (Kenya, Madagascar, South African coast) and even Indonesia. A deep-dwelling reef fish, the coelacanth is a relic from the past. These screwy fish often swim upside-down, vertically or backwards in search for prey using a specialized electro-receptive organ on the top of their heads (frickin’ laser beams on their heads). The more interesting thing about these fish however is that if one species can survive relatively unchanged through millions of years (through the Great Extinctions of prehistoric land species), then surely others can as well. Considering the oceans dwarf all land species in terms of size, quantity, variety, and any other measurable characteristic, it is not much of a stretch of the imagination that there are many species left over from the ancient past. This has captured peoples’ imaginations for at least a century, and gives at least some credence to the thought that species such plesiosaurs may still be in existence today.

It has been said that humans know much more about interstellar phenomena (remote, almost un-sensible objects, millions of light-years away that we will never be able to reach or study directly) than they do about our own oceans, which are practically most peoples’ backyards, and which also cover most of the planet and contain most of the life on the planet.

The Mariana Trench off the coast of Guam extends almost 11,000 metres below sea level. At this depth, we can only pretty much guess at what might be down there, or possibly send little probes to have a quick look before their batteries run out or their hulls are crushed by the undersea pressure (more than 15,000 lbs. per square inch). This is a bit like sending an ant to survey the C.N. Tower.

Be that as it may, every deep-sea dive has recorded dozens of new, never-before-seen species, all kinds of strange creepy-crawlies and bioluminescent abominations. As it stands, we (humans, collectively) have identified far less than 1% of the ocean’s inhabitants, yet we have already found examples of species that have survived for millions of years and continue to do so even now. Also, one of the most intriguing, mysterious and reluctant to be filmed species is the immense Architeuthis, or giant squid. A live squid has never been seen (well, recently a Japanese man got video footage of a giant ensnared on one of his deep-sea traps and recorded, in extremely poor quality film, its thrashings until it ripped its own arms off and escaped), yet is has been postulated, based on available, reliable, quantifiable, scientific evidence, that there is far more Architeuthis biomass on the planet than human biomass. And Architeuthis is but one of a menagerie of myriad species that inhabit the depths, far from the prying eyes of humans and their science!

What does this tell us? It tells us that the possibility for finding living plesiosaurs (long neck, small head), pliosaurs (short neck, big head), elasmosaurs (extra long neck) and other monsters of the past (not to mention new species and life forms hereto unheard of!) is far more probable than most people believe. I mean, even such trivial yet well-known “legends” as the Loch Ness Monster have often been explained as plesiosaurs, but who cares when there is an entire ocean that is probably filled with these and other such monsters!

Combine absolute darkness with extreme pressure and life gets strange. Fish get all scary and transform into mostly teeth, sharks grow as large as a school bus, and everywhere little lights blink on and off, various billions of small creatures luring prey, confusing enemies and making sneaky getaways. Massive squids fly about in the darkness, feasting on prey, occasionally being devoured by foraging sperm whales (who often dive more than 2000 metres in search of the tasty squids). Cutting edge modern science cannot even explain (yet?) how the sperm whale (a well-known, well-researched and well-hunted species) manages to dive so deeply without mangling itself with decompression sickness and succumbing to air bubbles in the brain. If such a specific, well-known phenomenon of one specific, well-known species is so difficult to explain, imagine what discoveries await with the thousands of unknown species with their virtually millions of unknown biological mechanisms and behaviours! A living plesiosaur seems certainly not out of the question.