A giant ichthyosaur discovery in British Columbia

Ichthyosaurs are a group of aquatic reptiles that superficially resemble living dolphins. Ichthyosaurs were common during the later Triassic and Jurassic periods, dying out during the late Cretaceous. The discovery of a 21 meter skeleton of the Norian genus Shonisaurus reported in the December issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology extends the size of these creatures into the range occupied by living blue whales. The largest living blue whale still has Shonisaurus beat, the largest recorded whale was 29 meters in length.