Prehistoric Seas-Episode 7: Triassic Revolution

French Narrator: The Next Sea is about to get even more dangerous, Because the next deadliest sea is the get there our heroes must travel half away back to the 21st century. To 230 million years BC, It's a time when reptiles are taking over the oceans, and the first dinosaurs are only just appearing."

The 7th Most Deadliest Sea of All Time

Time: Triassic 230 million years ago

Place: Germany-Italy

Sea Monsters/Hazards: Cymbospondylus, Mixosaurus, Nothosaurus, Tanystropheus, Placodus, Psephoderma, Henodus, Saurichthys, Metoposaurus, Bobosaurus, and Mastodonsaurus

Other animals: Peteinosaurus, Liliensternus, Plateosaurus, Drepanosaurus, and Gerrothorax

[The Scene shows our heroes walking along the Triassic beach coastline.]

Thomas: "The Triassic is a crucial time for marine life something new has happened. The fish nor the mammals they're not the most ferocious animals out there. This sea is dominated by a group that used to just live on the land, the reptiles. The reptiles dominated everywhere right now, You have the winged reptiles, the pterosaurs that rule the skies, and the future lords of the land, the dinosaurs."

[As the team stopped by a riverbed estuary where a herd of early sauropodomorphs or prosauropds were drinking extending their long necks towards the water while on the other side was a theropod dinosaur with a long neck, with a head that had a short, rounded pair of crest, the body was counterblanced by a long tail, stockier, and covered with feathers was also scoop drinking.]

Thomas: "Those are a herd of Plateosaurus who's descendants would become the titanic long neck sauropods while the large carnivores would descend from small-medium sized theropods like Liliensternus which have just evolved, But they're not much to look at yet. But there were reptiles and some amphibians dominating the freshwater and marine environments."

[The group sees some weird salamander like amphiabinas the first one which was hiding in the water, one had fish like gills, a remarkably flattened body, and a unusually shaped skull with angular protrusions on the sides.]

Thomas: "Look at this an amphibian temnospondyl salamander, a Gerrothorax, It was quite different from other amphibians. It had gills more like a fish rather than salamander-like external gills. It probably hid under sand or mud on river and lake bottoms, scanning for prey with its large, upward-facing eyes. An ambush predator it would lifted its head rather than dropping its jaw when catching prey,and the strong muscles in the jaws are capable of both raising the cranium and lowering the jaw rapidly. Then the robust internal gill apparatus would have expelled water through the gills during this motion, creating intense pressure in the throat that would suck in small prey items. The gill arches were also covered in small denticles, prohibiting any prey from escaping once devoured and they can live in freshwater and brackish water. BUt there were other amphibians like this Metoposaurus."

[Thomas spots another flat temnospondyl amphibian it had small, weak limbs, with a wide jaw of needle-like sharp teeth, and a large, flat head swimming inthe river.]

Thomas: "These amphibians swam in waterways during the wet season and used their heads and forearms to burrow underground when the dry season begins, But we're here to explore the sea and it's marine reptiles and before you ask, Mosasaurs haven't evolved yet."

[The scene changes to our heroes back on the S.S. Cheapskate as Thomas was scouting with binoculars on.]

French Narrator: "While on the boat in the Triassic, our heroes are here to find the fish and explore life in the sea, Home to one of the largest Triassic reptiles of them all in what would now be Germany."

[Suddnely then they hear a loud rumbling and breaking coming form the stent of the boat.]

Leni: "Sorry it was me, I only had yogurt for breakfast."

Lana: "No, it's something else it's the engine."

Charlie: "How long would be for it to be repaired Lana?"

Lana Loud: "a few minutes or more, but to me, less."

[As the pigtailed blonde tomboy girl got to work repairing te engine.]

Numbuh 5: "Oh just relax, Numbuh 5's not complaining."

[As she lays down on the deck floor in her blue bikini and taking off her cap.]

Numbuh 4: "Well, I could use a burger or something to eat."

Thomas(Looking through his binoculars): "I see something in the water what looked like huge long lizards with paddle like tails splashing and swimming very inquisitive like sea reptiles are easy to spot because they have to come up to the surface for air."

[Swimming around the boat were a group of marine reptiles, they had leathery skin, long necks, long snout, webbed feet, and longer sharp teeth.]

Thomas: "It's a group of Nothosaurus, They seem playful and curious, But they can be nippy, although there are bigger reptiles in these waters, But they can be nippy, although there are bigger reptiles in these waters which could kill a person, So that's why I have this." [takes out a cattle prod] "A cattle prod in case they get too close to deter them."

[Then the group of toons and humans dove into the waters as the nothosaurs curious begin to swim around the group.]

Thomas: "Don't worry they're piscivores meaning they only eat fish. They are quite inquisitive coming closer and closer they are very curious ust like sea lions."

Lana(laughing): "Hello there!"

Numbuh 2: "Whoa!"

[As a Nothosaur swims above him.]

Numbuh 3(giggling): "They want to play with us!"

Lucy: "It seems they're not afraid."

Lisa: "Of course they're not, we're the first toons and Homo sapiens these nothosaurus ever seen, they're not used to seeing people."

Charlie: "Welll, I don't know how they react, But we got this electric cattle prod in case they get too close and inquisitive."

Thomas: "Indeed, but look at that mouth full of teeth razor and interlocking perfect for catching fish that they churn from the sediment of the ocean floor he perfect fish trap and they certainly move fast enough to catch fish."

Charlie: "Hey! I'm gonna try something, Back in reptile camp when we have to hold alligators and that's putting your hands around the jaws."

[A nothosaur appears and Charlie goes from behind grabs the jaws with his hands to shut the creature's mouth putting it in a moving and clam state and starts to ride on the creature.]

Charlie(laughing): "Whoo! They can close with tremendous force, but the muscles that open them are really weak, but like all sea reptiles they need to breath and I can't hold him for long and have to let him out. Off you go!"

[As Yeager let's go of the nothosaur as it swims off and then the group stumble upon a mixed species group of different marine reptiles two of them were forging on the seafloor sediment feeding on mollusks like clams and and the last one feeding sea grass and aquatic plants. The first one group were lizard-like and looked like a cross between the galapagos marine iguana and a walrus and were about seven feet long, the second group looked like another mix of a marine iguana and a turtle, but it's shell carapace was divvied into two and they have flattened skull and a narrow, straight rostrum, and the last one resembled a turtle it had a shell formed from a plastron on the underside and a carapace on top. The carapace extended well beyond the limbs, and was made up of individual plates of bony scutes covered by plates of horn. However, the shell was composed of many more pieces of bone than that of turtles, forming a mosaic pattern.]

Eddy: "Hey get load of these ones!"

Ed: "Those are some weird looking turtles and lizards."

Filburt: "Hey, Thomas these ones really looks like prehistoric turtles like me."

Thomas: "That's because these are placodonts disntant relatives of the nothosaurs. These over there are Placodus and they're feeding like walruses, thye're using their upper lips and teeth to find mollusk shellfish like clams at the bottom of the ocean floor before hoovering them up and look at their teeth. They are chiseled and sharp protruding to pluck the hard shell clams

And in fact some of them took the convergent evolution route to having shells like turtles. Like these Psephoderma which have a much more narrow snout, and look it's carapace is divided into two pieces, One on the shoulder and back and the other at the ventral end. Lastly, those placodonts feeding on those aquatic plants, I might recgonize them before, they're Henodus, these reptiles evolved to carapace shells to protect themselves against predators something modern day turtles and tortoises would evolved today. The armor is fused to it's spike and it's limbs were situated in normal positions and they are located inside the rib cage."

Bonnie: "So what do they eat?"

Thomas: "Henodus were originally thought to be filter feeders, but it turns out they're aquatic herbivores scraping off vegetation from the bottom with it's broad jaws.

Fives: "Hey muscleman there's a group of pike or a barracuda this way!"

Muslceman: "Oh man, that is one weird looking fish, the head more looks like a lizards."

[The group turns to see a shoal of garfish with a head similar to a lizard with jaws of razor sharp teeth swimming around the coral reef.]

Thomas: "Those must Saurichthys, Muscleman and Fives. A predatory ray-finned fish, these fosh were ambush predators approaching their prey and attack it by quick sudden darts, but this fish isn't safe for the bigger predators in these seas."

[Soon Lillie freaks out and shrieks as a huge shadow is cast over them and then they looked up seeing a large marine reptile about thirty feet long, it had a vaguely crocodile-dolphin appearance with a pointed, tooth-filled jaw, large paddle-like flippers, a fluked tail, and the body was long and serpentine.]

Mallow: "What is it Lillie?!"

Spongebob(Gasped): "Holy Shrimp!"

Kiawe: "Whoa! Where did that come from?!"

Eddy: "I don't know!"

Thomas: "I think it's a Cymbospondylus, One of the members of a great group of marine reptiles, the dolphin like Ichthyosaurs. They mostly ate small fish and cephalopods, It's a primitive member of the group, But they're going to evolve into more variety forms about another hundred million years and it's coming a bit too close. It's a slow movement it's deceiving one flash of that tail they can have really great bursts of speed."

[The ichytosaurs circles around and it tries to bite Squidward as he was an octopus to the ichthyosaur he was prey.]

Squidward(Yelp): "Hey! Watch it!."

Charlie: "That was a warning shot! It's coming again time for the prod!"

[Once the cymbospondylus got too close, Charlie tase it with the prod and it swam away.]

Thomas: "What a spectacular reptile! Well, time to get back on the boat."

[Once the crew returned to the S.S. Cheapskate Lana Loud repairs the motor engine and it's running again.]

Lana: "And done!"

[Soon the heroes were now what would be Italy and small pterosaur with long tails flew above their heads.]

Double D: "Those are Peteinosaurus, One of the earliest of pterosaurs. They look small now, but they'll evolved to become bigger,the largest which was the size of a giraffe would be the Quetzalcoatlus."

[Soon the crew walking on the shore until one of the members spots something nearby.]

Tish: "Tino! Guys over here!"

[It was a strange looking lizard with a hump like shoulder, claws with the second index finger being bigger, a birdlike head, and a long thick prehensile tail with a claw tip at the end and it was digging in the sand.]

Thomas: "I can't believe this Tish! You must of found a Drepanosaurus!"

[They saw the reason once the hole was dug coming out of the cloaca were leathery white eggs being laided.]

Tish(gasped): "It's laying eggs."

Thomas: "Quite remarkable isn't it look at the prehensile tail which the tip is a modified claw and it's Feet and hands that grasp like a chameleon and the large claw on each of it's second index finger. This was an arboreal tree climbing animal using those claws to break through bark to find insects."

[After the Drepanosaurus was done laying it's eggs she buries them the eggs and starts climbing back up a nearby tree as the sand incuabtes the eggs warm by the heat of the sun. Soon they see a temnospondyl amphibian basking in the water with small pointy teeth in their jaws and two tusks on the lower jaw sticking out two hole sin the upper jaw.]

Thomas: "That amphibian over there is a Mastodonsaurus, another temnospondyl amphibian, one of the largest amphiains ever known, which lived in the freshwater environments of the Triassic."

[Soon the crew returned to the boat and were in the ocean again as Charlie and Squidward talked things out.]

Squidward: "We'll never find that fish with that dollar might as well, quit!"

Charlie: "No! We can't, we're only just halfway in our journey, it's not a straight line from point A to Point B, there's always gonna be obstacles, so it's best to suck it up and go with it."

Squidward: "I may or maynot understand every word you say."

[Soon the group dive sinto the water and see a pod of small ichythosaur with a dorsal fin and more dolphin like and a pod of short-necked pleiosaur like marine reptiles.]

Lola: "Lans, look a small dolphin creature!"

Lana Loud : "Whoa! it's another ichythosaurus."

Lisa: "These must be Mixosaurus, they represented the transitional form between the eel-shaped ichthyosaurs such as Cymbospondylus and the later dolphin-shaped ichthyosaurs, such as Ichthyosaurus. Although quite small, The jaws were narrow, with several sharp teeth, that would have been ideal for catching fish."

Thomas: "You got that right Lias, and as for these short necked seal like marine reptiles are Bobosaurus who are related to another group of marine reptiles called the plesiosaurs."

[Soon the heroes see a group of lizard-like reptiles, they were small, but they had very long necks, and it took up over a half the length of their bodies and a long tail for balance as it swam and walked across the reef.]

Tucker: "Oh my gosh a Tanystrophoenus!"

Mandy: "This is one of the most preposterous things I have ever seen!"

[As the small ones swam pass the gang suddenly one of the them was snatched by the tail and killed by a larger one twiced the size of the small fry 6 meters long leaving us shocked and speechless seeing this scene as it swallowed it whole.]

Thomas: "I think this is a bit too graphic although this looks like cannibalism, but there have been new studies that show that there were two species of Tanystrophoenus, the smaller longobardicus originally thought o be juvneiles, and the larger hydroides. They have a great long neck and tail with that neck is perfect for an ambush predator it would sweep that neck through the water at a shoal of fish and it seems scientists were right of it being an underwater hunter around coastal areas."

[Soon the gang swam back to the boat and as they would enter another anomaly portal through time.]

French Narrator: "But there are many other oddities of the Triassic especially a weird bizarre one from the far east, but that's coming up next so stay tuned."

That was an interesting chapter, In the next chapter, our heroes are stil in the Triassic as they meet a hammerhead mysterious marine reptile and the boat is under attack by a ichythosaur.

References in this chapter which I give credit to the artists include the drepanosaurus scene was iinpsired by Joshua knuppe illustration of "Live-Birthing Drepanasaur", although in this verison the Dreapnosaurus is laying eggs from All Your Yesterday's, and Olmagon's art illustration of Tanystropheus, "(Not) Cannibalism."

This chapter will have a lot of speculative behaviors so you can suggest additional dialogues, quotes, scenes, and natural or speculative behaviors for the prehistoric animals.

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