Prehistoric monster in our time. The most terrible prehistoric monsters

The depths of the modern World Ocean are a terrible place, teeming with barracudas, sharks, giant squid and the monster Cthulhu. But whatever creatures we find in sea ​​waters today, none of them compare to the giant, fearsome monsters that flooded the oceans of the Earth in the distant past: giant sea lizards, huge sharks, and even super predatory whales. For most of these monsters, humans would be nothing more than a snack.

So, before you - the ten most terrible prehistoric underwater monsters that have ever lived in the ocean.

10. Megalodon (Carcharodon megalodon)

This is possibly the most famous underwater prehistoric creature on this list. It's hard to imagine a shark the size of a 10-16 meter truck, but that's exactly what these 40-ton monsters were. Also, entertainment/educational resources like the Discovery Channel love to talk about creatures that look like monsters from horror movies.

Despite the popular belief that megalodons existed at the same time as dinosaurs, they actually lived 25-1.5 million years ago, which means that, at best, they diverged in time from the last dinosaur by 40 million years. On the other hand, this means that they could have existed even when the first people had already appeared on Earth. Ouch!

Megalodons lived in warm oceans that were all over the globe until the last ice age at the beginning of the Pleistocene, as a result of which, probably, these creatures lost their food and stopped reproducing. Sometimes it seems that nature is covering us.

9. Liopleurodon (Liopleurodon)


If in the movie "Park Jurassic"If there was an underwater scene in which they would show as many animals as possible that lived on our planet at that time, then Liopleurodons would most likely be present in it.

Although the actual length of these animals is still disputed by scientists (some of them claim that this monster was over 15 meters), most agree that they were almost 6 meters long, and about 1.2 meters of them - the head with sharp teeth.

If the mouth of the "smaller" supposed monster is already large enough to eat a whole person, one can imagine the huge mouth of the larger one.


Scientists studied the structure of the flippers of these creatures using small floating robots and found that, although they were not very fast, they were incredibly flexible. In addition, they could also make short, quick and sudden attacks like crocodiles, which does not make them any less intimidating.

8. Basilosaurus (Basilosaurus)


Despite its name and appearance, this is actually not a reptile, but a whale (and not the scariest one on this list). Basilosaurs are the predatory ancestors of modern whales, the length of which reached from 15 to 26 meters!

They are described as the whales most closely related to snakes due to their length and ability to squirm. Imagine swimming in the ocean with an alligator whale that is over 24 meters long! Now, having imagined this, you are unlikely to want to swim in the sea again.

Physical evidence suggests that basilosaurs had neither the cognitive abilities of modern whales nor the ability to echolocate: they could only move in two directions (without swimming in and without jumping out of the water). So these huge whales were dumber than a bag of prehistoric axes, and they would never have been able to chase a man either in water or on land.

7. Jaekelopterus rhenaniae


Agree, there can be nothing comforting in the phrase "sea scorpion", so this creature quite rightly seems creepy and terrible to you. It was one of the two largest arthropods to ever live on Earth, reaching over 2 meters in length as an armored pincer terror.

Most people are already beginning to get scared at the thought of centimeter ants and meter spiders, so it's easy to imagine the scream that would come from a person who accidentally stumbled upon such a creature, if they still lived.


Good news is that sea scorpions (crustaceans) died out even before the dinosaurs, having been destroyed during the mass Permian extinction (as a result of which 90% of aquatic and terrestrial species animals living on the planet).

Partly managed to survive only horseshoe crabs, which pose a much smaller threat than ordinary crabs. There is no evidence that sea scorpions were venomous, but their tail structure is similar to that of modern scorpions, suggesting that they may well have been venomous.

6. Mauisaurus, a giant genus of the elasmosaur family of the plesiosaur order (Mauisaurus)


The Mauisaurs were named after Maui, the Maori demigod who is said to have pulled the New Zealand Islands from the bottom of the sea with a fishhook, so you guessed these creatures were incredibly huge.

The neck of the Mauisaurus reached 15 meters in length: this is the most Long neck in proportion to the body of all animals that have ever lived on the planet, with the exception of some types of sauropods (sauropods).

The total body length of this monster was almost 20 meters, and this absurdly long neck had many vertebrae, which suggests that it was flexible. Imagine a snake with the body of a turtle without a shell, and you will have a rough idea of ​​​​what this giant looked like.


Mauisaurs lived in Cretaceous, which means that creatures that jumped into the water to avoid meeting with velociraptors and tyrannosaurs had to confront them; The competition for the title of the best has long ended.

As far as science knows, Mauisaurs were endemic to New Zealand, which suggests that the area that once became Australia and its neighbors has always been a land of horror.

5. Dunkleosteus


Dunkleostei were 9-meter carnivorous "tanks". Instead of teeth, they had bone plates, like turtles. It is estimated that their jaw pressure was 55 MPa, placing them on par with crocodiles and tyrannosaurs in terms of having the most powerful jaws in history.

They are also believed to have had powerful jaw musculature, due to which they could open their mouths in 1/50 of a second, which means that the flow of water literally sucked the victim inside.


The "teeth" plates changed as the fish's hard, tough jaws evolved into segments that were easier for them to hold on to their prey and were more effective at crushing the shells of other armored fish. In the "arms race" that was the prehistoric ocean, the Dunkleosteus was a predatory supertank.

4. Kronosaurus (Kronosaurus)


Kronosaurus is a short-necked pliosaurus whose length, like Liopleurodon, is a subject of debate in the scientific world. The length of their torso was "only" 9 meters, and the longest tooth in their powerful mouth was 28 centimeters long. That is why these creatures were named after Kronos, the king of the ancient Greek titans.


Guess where kronosaurs lived? If you said that in Australia, then you are attentive (and right). The head of this monster was up to 3 meters in length. They could eat modern man whole, and they would still have room for half of the other.

In addition, it is assumed that, since their swimming membranes are very similar in structure to those of modern sea ​​turtles, they could crawl out onto land to lay their eggs. You can be sure that no one dared to dig up the nests of these animals to feast on their eggs.

3. Helicoprion (Helicoprion)


These sharks could grow up to 5 meters in length, and their lower jaw was shaped like a spiral. It's like a cross between a buzz saw and a shark, and when a super predator pairs up with a powerful power tool, the world shakes in fear.


The teeth of the Helicoprion were serrated (sorry for the tautology), which suggests that they were definitely predators. However, there is controversy as to whether their teeth were in front of the mouth, as shown in the picture, or slightly further back, which would suggest a softer diet, such as eating jellyfish.

However it was set up, it clearly worked. Helicoprions survived the Permian mass extinction, which means that these creatures may have been smart enough to create "bomb shelters" for themselves. Or perhaps they simply lived at great depths.

2. Leviathan Melville (Livyatan melvillei)

Remember we mentioned super predatory whales? This is what he is. Imagine a cross between a killer whale and a sperm whale. Melvilla's Leviathan is a whale that ate other whales!

Its teeth were larger than any other animal that has ever used them for eating (and although elephants have larger tusks, they really only look impressive, and with their help, elephants only break things, but do not eat), reaching an incredible 36 centimeters.

They lived in the same oceans and ate the same food as megalodons, so these whales really had to compete with the largest predatory sharks in history.


Not to mention their head, which was 3 meters long and had the same echolocation "equipment" as modern toothed whales, making them more effective in murky waters.

In case it's not obvious, this animal was named after Leviathan, the giant Biblical sea monster, and Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick, or the White Whale. And if big White whale in the novel was one of Melville's leviathans, he would have eaten the Pequod whaling ship with everyone on board in one crunch.

1. Stingray-gimantura species Himantura polylepis

What grows up to 5 meters in diameter, has a 25 cm venomous spike on its tail, and is so strong that it can capsize a boat full of people? In this case, it is a prehistoric superfish that still lurks in fresh and salty waters from the Mekong River to northern Australia. Giant rays appeared there a few million years after the dinosaurs died out, and proved to be a success in their structure, like the sharks from which they descended.


Giant stingrays use their time-honored build and somehow managed to survive several ice ages and even the catastrophic eruption of the Toba volcano, which occurred about 75 thousand years ago during the last ice age.

These creatures are notorious for being able to pierce a limb (bone) with their neurotoxin-coated spike. The good news is that, for all that, these prehistoric marine

What people are not afraid of, starting with phobias of small insects and spiders, and ending with giant predators like crocodiles, sharks and bears. However, even these terrible beasts are no match for the prehistoric monsters that once inhabited our planet.

Azhdarchids were a type of pterosaurs, flying reptiles that many people think of as winged dinosaurs (although they belong to a completely different family). The name comes from the Persian word meaning "dragon", and it is not surprising - after all, these creatures were the growth of giraffes, and their wingspan exceeded 20 meters. They also had a gigantic head and a toothless beak almost the size of their own body.

Entolodonts are an extinct family of pig-like creatures that lived on Earth about 37 million years ago. These gigantic creatures could be found on the territory North America, in parts of Europe and even Asia. Like them modern relatives, entelodonts were omnivores, and their diet consisted of both meat and vegetation, which means they had incredibly sharp teeth. Distinctive feature These terminator pigs are large protrusions on their heads that look like horns. These animals often fought each other, and left inch-deep dents in the skulls of the enemy. Such power is justified, because they reached 120 cm in height and 3 meters in width, and at the same time weighed about 450 kg.

Unlike most modern aquatic reptiles, Liopleurodon was a truly gigantic creature. Liopleurodon lived in the oceans for about 5 million years and disappeared about 155 million years ago. Their exact size is difficult to determine due to the lack of remains, but experts believe that these creatures reached a length of 9 meters. This means that they weighed about 1600 kilograms, and could easily hunt any water creatures.

Gigantopithecus has recently come into the spotlight, although for centuries almost no one knew about it. And all thanks to the appearance in the new Disney film "The Jungle Book". Gigantopithecus were essentially giant orangutans that lived in the forests of India and China about 100,000 years ago. They were so huge (3 meters tall and 500 kg in weight) that they are considered the largest primates of all time.

Many people think of saber-toothed tigers as just big cats, but Xenosmilus was not just a big cat - he had a powerful build and very large muscles. Because of this, he looked like a cross between a leopard and a bear. His unique appearance and build meant he hunted differently than most. saber-toothed cats. Using his protruding jaw, he tore out large chunks of flesh from the victim so that he would die of blood loss while trying to escape.

it sea ​​creature, which is due distant relative modern lobsters were discovered only in 2014, when its remains were found in Morocco. Egirokassid reached almost two meters in length, that is, he could catch up with the growth of an adult. However, he was not bloodthirsty predator. He ate in much the same way as modern whales eat - he sucked water into his mouth and used his teeth as a filter for food.

The remains indicate that the argentavis was the largest bird in history. With the growth of an adult and a weight of 80 kg, it is larger than any living bird. However, unlike other large birds, Argentavis was unlikely to act like predators, since its structure did not allow it to hunt prey. It is also unlikely that with such a gigantic size, Argentavis flew as well as its modern relatives. It is assumed that he hovered in the air, only occasionally flapping his wings to gain height.

Few things scare people as much as bugs and insects. They are so creepy that giant versions of the most common insects often appear as monsters in horror films. Arthropleura might just be mistaken for a monster from a horror movie. These giant centipedes reached two and a half meters in length. They were so huge that they had no enemies among predators, and they are still considered the largest land invertebrates in the history of the planet.

Nowadays the most big snakes can reach at best eight meters in length, but all of them wipe the nose of the titanoboa. It weighed over a ton and measured over fifteen meters in length. This snake lived in the swampy jungles of South America a little after the death of dinosaurs. Like the boa constrictors, the titanoboa was non-venomous, and choked victims with a force of 28 kilograms of force per square centimeter. After the death of the dinosaurs, the titanoboa was the largest predator on the planet for 10 million years.

Dragonflies are not the most terrible creatures in the world, although someone is afraid of them. But few people would not be afraid of this distant relative of the dragonfly, which was the size of a child. A flying insect that lived on Earth 300 million years ago, had a wingspan of 66 centimeters, and its body length was 30 cm. Like modern relatives, Meganevra was carnivorous and fed mainly on invertebrates and amphibians.

Although among modern fish full of ugly and scary ones, all of them, including piranhas, fade next to the dunkleosteus. This giant fish lived on the planet about 360 million years ago and with a body length of 6 meters and a weight of a ton is one of the most big fish in history. Its size indicates that it was a predator, and thanks to its powerful jaw and large teeth, it could eat all the creatures that it caught in the water.

In 2005, scientists discovered the remains of Carbonemis in a coal mine in Colombia. This is an extinct species of giant tortoise that lived on Earth 60 million years ago. The creature's carapace alone was two meters long, and the carbonemis weighed up to a ton. That is, the size of this turtle could catch up with a small car. While carbonemis isn't the biggest turtle in history, it's definitely the most terrifying. Her powerful jaws allowed her to hunt animals larger than herself.

Gorgonopsians are a type of therapsid that are the ancestors of modern mammals. Roughly speaking, they were something between reptiles and mammals, and inhabited the Earth about 250 million years ago. Gorgonops were one of the most large predators of their time, and could equal the size of a large bear. At the same time, the length of the skull of these monsters was 60 cm.

Although they were not technically crocodilians, sarcosuchians are very reminiscent of modern reptiles with their long bodies and scales. But at the same time, they are twice as large as the crocodiles we know. Some scientists believe that sarcosuchus continued to grow throughout life, and eventually reached a length of 12 meters. At the same time, they weighed about 8 tons, and their skin was so thick that it could serve as armor for them - useful quality, given that they lived at the same time as the dinosaurs.

Sharks are already the scariest creatures on the planet in their own right, but the megalodon takes them to the next level. These giant sea ​​creatures lived about 2.5 million years ago, and today are considered one of the largest and deadliest killers in history. The basking shark could grow up to 18 meters in length and looked like a larger version of the white man-eating shark. The worst thing is that teeth 15 cm long and 10 cm wide were hidden in its mouth. Due to its gigantic size, the megalodon could devour a wide variety of prey, including whales, large sea turtles and dolphins.

Who among you has not heard of the Tyrannosaurus Rex or Velociraptor? When we think of dinosaurs, we imagine only a small part of all these gigantic creatures. But perhaps those who are less familiar to us are more interesting?

Estemmenosuchus

There are no more such animals. Estemmenosuchus is probably one of the most unusual prehistoric monsters. It belongs to the group of deinocephals. Despite their actual dinosaur appearance, they were more closely related to mammals. The fossilized remains of Estemmenosuchus have been found in Russia. They lived in the Permian period, long before the advent of dinosaurs.

Acrophyseter

This is an ancient relative of the sperm whale, which, as we know, huge size, eats a lot of shellfish and never attacks a person without provocation. What, alas, cannot be said about the acrophyseter. What was this dinosaur? He was of medium size and did not eat shellfish, but other marine animals and even sharks! His terrible teeth were deadly weapon, so the acrophyseter was nicknamed the killer of sperm whales. His remains have been found in Peru. He lived during the Miocene period, which was rich in various large sea creatures, such as giant dolphins, huge sharks, and even monster penguins.

Gigantopithecus

His name speaks for itself. It was a huge monkey, a relative of the orangutan, who lived in the bamboo thickets, jungles and mountains of China, India and Vietnam during the Pleistocene. Gigantopithecus were vegetarians, grew up to 3 m and weighed up to 550 kg! They were very strong, which was to their advantage in defense against predators. Gigantopithecus became extinct 300,000 years ago, most likely due to hunting by early humans or due to climate change. Of course, all lovers Bigfoot I like to think that Gigantopithecus somehow survived in remote parts of the Himalayas and that there is still hope of seeing it.

epicyon

He can be described as a giant pit bull on steroids. He belonged to the canine family, but if modern dogs imply speed and endurance, then the epicion has tremendous strength. He had such powerful jaws that he could crush bones like a nut! This monster ruled the plains of North America for 15 million years, after which it gave way to big cats (including the saber-toothed tiger).

edestus

Today's white sharks have some of the most vicious teeth in nature, but their distant prehistoric relative Edestus was so fearsome that the shark is small in comparison. gold fish. Edestus was about 7 m long. However, scientists still don't know how he used his amazing teeth. Unlike the shark, they did not fall out from him at all. Instead, the new teeth pushed the old ones out of the mouth, and thus the gums and teeth protruded from the mouth like monstrous scissors. Edestus could easily bite the victim in half! That's it!

Gorgonops

They were the top predators in the late Permian, before the dinosaurs arrived. Gorgonops possesses deadly saber-like teeth, which it uses to prey on the largest Permian herbivores the size of a rhinoceros or even larger. Gorgonops were quite dexterous and could move with high speed. Despite their reptilian appearance, they are closer to mammals and may have even been covered in fur!

terrible bird

Known as fororakos, these birds were the main predators in South America and in some areas of the North during the Miocene, Pliocene and Pleistocene periods. They were then replaced by big cats and other carnivorous mammals. Phororacos could not fly, but they ran very fast (according to some scientists, as fast as a cheetah!). They were very large, up to 3 m in height and weighing up to half a ton! Their main weapon was a head up to 1 m long, which allowed them to swallow dog-sized prey whole. But what is most terrible, thanks to the curved beak, terrible birds could kill and eat an animal the size of a horse.

Madsoya

If someone has a phobia of snakes, then this madsoya will become a real nightmare. Although only a few parts of this creature have been found, its length is estimated at 15-20 m! Madsoya lived during the Cretaceous and may even have eaten dinosaurs. Like the python, it is non-venomous, but constricts to death with its coils. Madsoya disappeared 45 million years ago.

Purussaurus

It was a giant caiman that lived in what is now the Amazon. 8 million years ago this region was large inland sea, teeming with crocodiles, gharials, freshwater whales, giant rodents and turtles. And among them, Purussaurus was the main predator, for which there are reasons: 12-15 m in length! Agree, not enough? The remains of other animals without limbs or even half of the body are further proof of the good appetite of this giant caiman.

Entelodont

Although the pigs wild boars and boars sometimes eat meat, they are considered vegetarians. On the other hand, the entelodont, a prehistoric relative of the pig, was a carnivore and perhaps one of the most feared mammals ever. He was as tall as a man, had powerful jaws and sharp teeth. Scientists believe that entelodonts hunted themselves, but could also scare other predators away from their prey (which was not difficult). Numerous bites also indicate that entelodonts fought among themselves. It is possible that they were cannibals.

Azdarchid

It was a species of pterosaur (more commonly known as the pterodactyl), including the largest flying creatures ever to have existed. In some specimens, the wingspan of one was 12-15 m! But what's really weird about the Azdarchids is their body proportions. They had surprisingly long legs, necks and beaks and very small bodies and short wings. Scientists believe that they did not fly in the sky, but hunted on the ground for animals the size of a dog or even a man! Standing on all 4 legs, the largest Azdarchids were the size of a giraffe and a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

pulmonoscorpion

Literally a breathing scorpion, it is very similar to a modern scorpion, but only up to 1 m long. It was armed with sharp claws and a poisonous sting. Of course, we don't know how poisonous it was, but most likely deadly! This predator ran through the forests of the Carboniferous period, where Scotland is now. By the way, during the Carboniferous period, there were also giant cockroaches the size of a cat, dragonflies the size of a hawk and 3-meter centipedes. In principle, almost everything is the same, only a little more.!

Xenosmilus

This is perhaps the most insidious of the cat family. The remains of this large cat were found in Florida along with the remains of many unfortunate peccaries. Instead of strangling the victim or snapping their neck like lions do, the xenosmilus acted more like a shark or a carnivorous dinosaur, ripping out a large piece of flesh at once and causing a lot of blood loss and shock in a second. It is not known when this predator became extinct.

Megalodon

This is a well-known prehistoric monster. Megalodon was giant shark. It reached a length of 20 m and weighed 60 tons, which makes it 6 times larger than a Tyrannosaurus rex. Obviously, the only food that could feed the megalodon was whales. The predators themselves appeared many years after the tyrannosaurs and other large creatures. Our ancestors did not see them, although the megalodon still existed when the first australopithecines appeared.

Spinosaurus

They were even bigger than a Tyrannosaurus rex. The remains of this huge predator were found in Egypt in 1915. Spinosaurs have been called the largest carnivorous dinosaurs of all time. This monster reached 17-18 m, weighed up to 10 tons and had a growth on its back more than a human being. Its long, crocodile snout suggests that Spinosaurus spent a lot of time in the water and may have eaten. a large number of fish. But it would be better for crocodiles, giant tortoises and dinosaurs not to cross his path! Although the Tyrannosaurus rex remains the most famous prehistoric monster of all time, the spinosaurus was and remains the largest predator on earth that we know about.

The depths of the modern World Ocean are a terrible place, teeming with barracudas, sharks, giant squids and the monster Cthulhu. But whatever creatures we find in the sea today, none compare to the giant, fearsome monsters that flooded Earth's oceans in the distant past: giant sea lizards, huge sharks, and even super predatory whales. For most of these monsters, humans would be nothing more than a snack.

Origin and meaning of the word

The word "monster" comes from the Latin. monstros, monstrum with the root "moneo" meaning "to warn" or "miracle". Allegorically, as a metaphor, it can refer to an object of physical or psychological dominance with supernatural powers (ruler, predator), as well as a real or fictional object of nature or technical device with outstanding, including supernatural qualities (size, strength, power, etc.).

AT figuratively can be used to refer to a person who sharply, either for the better or for the worse, differs from others in his moral qualities.

So, before you - the ten most terrible prehistoric underwater monsters that have ever lived in the ocean.

10. Megalodon (Carcharodon megalodon)

This is possibly the most famous underwater prehistoric creature on this list. It's hard to imagine a shark the size of a 10-16 meter truck, but that's exactly what these 40-ton monsters were. Also, entertainment/educational resources like the Discovery Channel love to talk about creatures that look like monsters from horror movies.

Despite the popular belief that megalodons existed at the same time as dinosaurs, they actually lived 25-1.5 million years ago, which means that, at best, they diverged in time from the last dinosaur by 40 million years. On the other hand, this means that they could have existed even when the first people had already appeared on Earth. Ouch!

9. Liopleurodon (Liopleurodon)

Although the actual length of these animals is still disputed by scientists (some of them claim that this monster was over 15 meters), most agree that they were almost 6 meters long, and about 1.2 meters of them - the head with sharp teeth.

If the mouth of the "smaller" supposed monster is already large enough to eat a whole person, one can imagine the huge mouth of the larger one.

8. Basilosaurus (Basilosaurus)

They are described as the whales most closely related to snakes due to their length and ability to squirm. Imagine swimming in the ocean with an alligator whale that is over 24 meters long! Now, having imagined this, you are unlikely to want to swim in the sea again.

Physical evidence suggests that basilosaurs had neither the cognitive abilities of modern whales nor the ability to echolocate: they could only move in two directions (without swimming in and without jumping out of the water). So these huge whales were dumber than a bag of prehistoric axes, and they would never have been able to chase a man either in water or on land.

7. Jaekelopterus rhenaniae

Most people are already beginning to get scared at the thought of centimeter ants and meter spiders, so it's easy to imagine the scream that would come from a person who accidentally stumbled upon such a creature, if they still lived.

Partly managed to survive only horseshoe crabs, which pose a much smaller threat than ordinary crabs. There is no evidence that sea scorpions were venomous, but their tail structure is similar to that of modern scorpions, suggesting that they may well have been venomous.

6. Mauisaurus, a giant genus of the elasmosaur family of the plesiosaur order (Mauisaurus)

The neck of Mauisaurus reached 15 meters in length: this is the longest neck in proportion to the body of all animals that have ever lived on the planet, with the exception of some species of sauropods (sauropods).

The total body length of this monster was almost 20 meters, and this absurdly long neck had many vertebrae, which suggests that it was flexible. Imagine a snake with the body of a turtle without a shell, and you will have a rough idea of ​​​​what this giant looked like.

As far as science knows, Mauisaurs were endemic to New Zealand, which suggests that the area that once became Australia and its neighbors has always been a land of horror.

5. Dunkleosteus

They are also believed to have had powerful jaw musculature, due to which they could open their mouths in 1/50 of a second, which means that the flow of water literally sucked the victim inside.

4. Kronosaurus (Kronosaurus)

In addition, it is assumed that, since their swimming membranes are very similar in structure to those of modern sea turtles, they could crawl onto land to lay eggs. You can be sure that no one dared to dig up the nests of these animals to feast on their eggs.

3. Helicoprion (Helicoprion)

However it was set up, it clearly worked. Helicoprions survived the Permian mass extinction, which means that these creatures may have been smart enough to create "bomb shelters" for themselves. Or perhaps they simply lived at great depths.

2. Leviathan Melville (Livyatan melvillei)

Its teeth were larger than any other animal that has ever used them for eating (and although elephants have larger tusks, they really only look impressive, and with their help, elephants only break things, but do not eat), reaching an incredible 36 centimeters.

They lived in the same oceans and ate the same food as megalodons, so these whales really had to compete with the largest predatory sharks in history.

In case it's not obvious, this animal was named after Leviathan, the giant Biblical sea monster, and Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick, or the White Whale. And if the great white whale in the novel were one of Melville's leviathans, it would have eaten the Pequod whaling ship and everyone on board in one crunch.

1. Himantura polylepis stingray

These creatures are notorious for being able to pierce a limb (bone) with their neurotoxin-coated spike. The good news is that, for all that, these prehistoric sea ​​monsters will not try to eat the person.