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How Big Do Mosasaur Vertebrae Get?


NSRhunter

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Hi everyone, while fossil hunting in the Sulphur about a week ago I started wondering what is the max size for a mosasaur vert?

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in not that sure, but i saw a picture of a mosasaur cheveron, and it said it was pretty big, the size was a foot or so. Also, average mosasaurs are 20-45 feet, and larger averages are 40-50 feet, and the largest dscovered was 58 feet or so, so maybe you can calculate that.....

If you're a fossil nut from Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Redondo Beach, or Torrance, feel free to shoot me a PM!

 

 

Mosasaurus_hoffmannii_skull_schematic.png

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I'm not your go to on mosasaurs. But I have seen some large ones online before. I will be attending Tucson and I'll see if I can find a nice big one and post a picture of it here.

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  • 1 month later...

It would depend entirely on which species.

Now the Sulphur river material... I personally have not seen anything larger than two fists together.

Jess B.

Edited by bone2stone
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It would depend entirely on which species.

Now the Sulphur river material... I personally have not seen anything larger than two fists together.

Jess B.

Wow two fists together? That's massive!

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  • 10 months later...

post-19191-0-44655800-1454251097_thumb.jpgI've seen some huge ones. The largest I've found is the top left one in the attached pic. It's worn but you can still see how huge it is compared to all the other normal size verts in the pic.

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I'm not familiar with Mosasaur material from your area. However, 'in general' smaller vertebrae of most vertebrates tend to preserve better than larger specimens. The larger the specimen, more likely it is to fracture when deposited...then erode over time, etc.

This also creates a collecting bias. A distinct whole shape is more likely to catch our attention than an incomplete 'chunk'.

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