Marine Reptiles

In the summer of 2001, students from the University Centre in Svalbard discovered the bones of a plesiosaur in Janusfjellet near Deltaneset. Three years later, researchers from the Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, began an excavation. Within a small area, the researchers found bones from two different species of ancient marine reptiles: ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs. These creatures lived in the Jurassic period. At that time, dark shale full of organic material was formed. The shale may be the source of some of the oil formed under the Barents Sea.

Plesiosaurs

Plesiosaurs ranged in length from a couple metres to thirteen metres. They lived from the Triassic period until dying out 65 million years ago, at the same time as the dinosaurs. They mostly lived in the sea, but also in fresh water. Plesiosaurs ate fish and squid. There are two subgroups of Plesiosaurs: short-necked and long-necked.

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Excavating a plesiosaur. Photo: Jørn Hurum

Ichthyosaurs

Ichthyosaurs were reptiles with dolphin-like bodies. They lived in the sea during the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods. Their forelimbs developed into powerful flippers, and their tails resembled fish tails. They were experts at catching squid and fish, and had the largest eyes ever developed by any vertebrate. In the Cretaceous period they were rare, and they died out before the dinosaurs.