Plesiosaurs and the underwater fliers
Long-necked reptiles row through the sea with four wings, a method of swimming nothing else has used.
- When
- Known to
- ± 8 million years
- Era
- Jurassic, Mesozoic
Plesiosaurs radiate through the Early Jurassic, propelling themselves with four large flippers in a motion closer to underwater flight than rowing — computer simulations indicate the forelimbs did most of the work. Alongside them ichthyosaurs continue and marine crocodiles appear. The Jurassic sea has more independently evolved reptilian swimmers than any period before or since.