Jurassic
155 million years ago
Hazards : Marine crocodiles, sharks, Predator X
"I've come to the Jurassic. This is a land of monstrous creatures" Nigel said to the cameraman. " On the land there are giant dinosaurs but here in the water. Well look at that." He says pointing towards a shoal of massive fish about the size of a Humpback whale with colors similar to modern day Whale sharks.
"That's a shoal of Leedsichthys." Nigel says. "These are one of the biggest fish to have ever lived. As big as these fish are, there are predators nearly as large that attack them. I'm here to see one of the largest marine reptiles to live in this time."
Nigel swam alongside the titans known as Leedsichthys. Observing these titans drifting in the water. "They must be about 53 feet long. This is about as big as they get.
Nigel began to get closer to one of the fish. He looks over in amazement at the size of this massive fish, certainly one of the bigger animals that he's encountered in his Prehistoric adventures. Only the Shastasaurus from his last dive was bigger.
"These giants are sustained by the tiniest creatures in these Jurassic seas." Nigel says. "What they do is they filter out any tiny plankton or any smaller animals floating in the ocean."
Nigel spots a wounded Leedsichthys at the edge of the shoal. Already, its attracting some of the smaller of the Jurassic seas.
The first one Nigel meets has a large snout resembling a Gharial's but it has smooth skin, gray on the top, white on the bottom. "Over there, Dakosaurus." Nigel points out to the cameraman. "You just wouldn't expect that this is a kind of marine crocodile, adapted for life in the sea."
The Dakosaurus swims past Nigel as the man talks about the creature. The cameraman looks concerned as the reptile swims above them, studying them. "Unlike crocodiles or alligators, these creatures lack the osteoderms of modern crocs. This creature has sacrificed defense for speed."
Soon the Dakosaurus tries to test Nigel. "That's a bit close." Nigel says before tapping the Dakosaurus on the snout and telling it to go away.
The Dakosaurus left Nigel and the cameraman alone and started circling around the injured Leedsichthys. Just after Nigel meets another type of creature down below him but its not a reptile. It's a shark with a similar color pattern to the Dakosaurus.
"Look at that." Nigel says as he points down beneath himself. "This is the most bizarre shark called Hybodus. See those strange horns on the top of its head. Those may have been used for display rather than fighting and its going to feast now."
The Hybodus takes a bite out of the Leedsichthys flipper. Three more Hybodus joined into the feeding frenzy and two additional Dakosaurus followed them. Nigel admits that he feels sorry for the Leedsichthys as the predators are eating it alive.
The Dakosaurus approaches the giant fish and takes a bite out of another fin. Meanwhile the Hybodus tore into the tail of the injured fish.
"Pretty unnerving being right next to the shoal. You've got to worry about sharks and marine crocodiles. And if that wasn't enough they aren't the only ones here in these Jurassic waters. I haven't even seen the large marine reptile I've come here for."
But Nigel wouldn't have too long to wait. Nigel returns to the boat as the Dakosaurus and Hybodus continued to follow the injured Leedsichthys.
"No large predators on the first dive. But there's certainly potential prey." Nigel tells the cameraman. For this adventure, Nigel is using an acoustic tracking device to keep an eye on the injured Leedsichthys. It sends sound into the water which bounces off the Leedsichthys.
Leedsichthys don't move very fast and one with an injury, more so. Nigel knows that this fish will be drawing in much larger predators.
"So what exactly is this large creature that I'm looking for ?" Nigel says to the cameraman "Well, I'll you something about it. The predator that we're after is known as Pliosaurus or Predator X." Meanwhile Don continues to follow the Leedsichthys.
"This large creature was discovered in what is now the Svalbard archipelago." Nigel explains. "It was said to be one of the most fearsome animals to swim the oceans. This creature would have fed on smaller plesiosaurs, ichthyosaurs, sharks, marine crocodiles, and of course Leedsichthys."
As Nigel talks to the cameraman, Finn notices some kind of large mass approaching the boat on the acoustic tracking device. "I'm sorry for interrupting Nigel, but you might want to come see this." Finn tells him. "What is it Finn ?" Nigel asks. "There's some kind of large mass approaching the boat." He replies "It might be what you're looking for."
Nigel comes out to see what's going on. Instead of a Predator X, what Nigel sees is a group of small plesiosaurs with light brown skin swimming past the Ancient Mariner. "Well it's certainly not the creature I'm looking for but it is a type of plesiosaur just like it." Nigel tells the cameraman. "This is Kimmerosaurus, a type of Jurassic plesiosaur about as large as a car."
"These would be one of Pliosaurus's favorite prey items." Nigel explains as the group swims past the boat. "Fossils have been found of a Kimmerosaurus skull which was damaged by an unknown predator that could have been Predator X."
"This bunch here must be looking for fish." Nigel said to the cameraman as the Kimmerosaurus started to move on after checking out the boat. "They are in a group but this isn't necessarily a pod like modern day dolphins. They probably weren't as social as dolphins."
"Well they're off now." Nigel said. "And we should continue following the injured Leedsichthys."
It was a couple of hours before Nigel and the crew found what they were looking for. "Hey Nigel check this out!" Sandra called out.
"This is it." Nigel said with excitement. "Four flippers, short neck, this has to be a Predator X. And it's closing in on the Leedsichthys. We've got to see this."
"Finn, can you get the pole cam, mate?" Nigel asked. "As quick as you can." "Okay Nigel." He replied as the Pliosaurus continued to approach the Leedsichthys.
Finn submerged the pole cam under the water and there it was. With gray skin at the top and white at the bottom, four flippers, and huge sharp teeth. This was none other than a Pliosaurus otherwise known as Predator X.
"Just as I thought, this is Predator X." Nigel said as the Predator X circled around the Leedsichthys. "I see another one not too far away. They must have been attracted to the Leedsichthys. It's not moving a fin now, it must be dead now."
Nigel picked up some scuba gear. "Those Predator X are awe inspiring sea monsters." Nigel said to the cameraman. "It would be such a thrill to see them under the water. But of course, I'd need some protection and Finn, Gil, and I came up with this, a smell suit."
"Predator X has a really acute sense smell and we're going to use that to protect us when we dive into the water with them." Nigel explained to the cameraman. "And what we do is we put a bottle of noxious chemicals on the smell suit. And if the Predator X get too close, I'll switch on this valve and there will be an explosion of chemicals into the water."
"The chemical we're using is called Putrescine which is largely responsible for the foul odor of rotting flesh." Nigel tells him. "And hopefully that will keep them away from us. But why did we decide on Putrescine?"
Nigel pulls out a disc and puts it into the DVD player. This is some footage of them testing the smell suit on some of the marine life in the area in the shallow water, including some young Predator X.
The first test was with a chemical deterrent that keeps sharks away. They put a smell suit around the dummy and they put squid in the suit to get the attention of the marine reptiles in the area. A Kimmerosaurus studied the dummy but left immediately after due to the presence of a young Predator X.
When the young pliosaur nudged the dummy, the chemicals were released. But these ones had no effect on the young marine reptile and it tried to swim off with the dummy in its jaws.
The next test was with Putrescine. The next time was successful as the young Pliosaurus was about to attack the dummy, the chemicals were released and the young Predator X swam away from the dummy. Nigel's hope was that the smell suit would work on the adults.
The crew decided to wait until it was nighttime for the Pliosaurus to return to the dead Leedsichthys. Right now the crew was getting the lights ready before dropping them into the water.
"According to the Acoustic Tracking Device a Predator X, perhaps even a pair of time have come back for the carcass." Nigel said to the cameraman. "We've lost the daylight but that doesn't matter to those animals. They live in a world of smell."
"We've got lights so we can see but it's going to be spooky down there though." Nigel said to the cameraman. "And we have the smell suit to protect us.
As soon as the lights were dropped into the water. Nigel and Mike plunged into the dark water. They noticed a large ichthyosaur swimming around them.
"Look at that, this is an Ophthalmosaurus." Nigel said to the cameraman. "This is a type of large ichthyosaur. Ichthyosaurs were pretty common in the Jurassic but very few of them got to be as large as Ophthalmosaurus, except for Temnodontosaurus which went extinct in the Early Jurassic.
"And look at those eyes, they're huge." Nigel mentioned to the cameraman. "This animal usually hunts in deeper water. But at night, they come up from the depths. They specialize in hunting squid in the gloom."
The Ophthalmosaurus noticed something massive in the gloom and swam away from Nigel and Mike. "Well he's off. The Predator X aren't too far away." Nigel said to the cameraman before they swam into the feeding frenzy.
There they saw not one, not two, but three Pliosaurs tearing into the Leedsichthys carcass with more on their way. "It's enormous!" Nigel exclaimed. "I'm so glad that we're filming this, nobody would believe me back at home."
The Predator X's tore into the Leedsichthys carcass. They weren't too interested in Nigel, for the moment. Right now they were more focused on eating the Leedsichthys right now. Another Predator X went right past Nigel and he caught a glimpse of those teeth.
"That's a cracking view of those teeth." Nigel said to the cameraman. "Those can serve this predator well for grabbing the necks of the smaller plesiosaurs like Kimmerosaurus. They are like knife blades. They're just piling onto that fish carcass, slicing through the flesh of that Leedsichthys."
"I'm going to try a calculated risk, right now they're more focused on eating that Leedsichthys." Nigel told the cameraman. "If they do come for me, I've got the smell suit. So I'm going to move in as close as I dare."
In his head Mike was thinking "Nigel, what are you doing? This is a stupid idea" but he kept an eye on Nigel to make sure nothing happens.
Nigel swam closer to the Leedsichthys carcass "I'm just 20 feet away from a feeding frenzy of some really ferocious marine reptiles. Nothing like the green sea turtles of modern days. I am petrified watching this." He said.
A Pliosaur noticed Nigel not too far away and started swimming towards him. "Oh no, Nigel what were you thinking?" Mike thought to himself. "Oh it's coming so close." Nigel said before switching on the valve. "Back off!"
An explosion of Putrescine was released into the water and the Predator X swam away from Nigel before returning to the carcass. "Thank heaven, the smell suit worked but it's really time to get out of here." Nigel said to the cameraman. "They know we're here and if we stay here any longer than we're going to be in trouble."
Nigel and Mike swam away from the feeding frenzy but not before getting one last look as one of the Pliosaurs slammed into the carcass to take a chunk of flesh off the dead fish.
They climbed back on board the Ancient Mariner. They were greeted by Sandra and Don. They told them about the encounter and how scary it was when the Predator X tried to attack Nigel.
Predator X was most certainly a formidable predator of the Jurassic seas. If Allosaurus was the top predator on Land, then Pliosaurus was the top predator of the sea.
But the next sea Nigel will be heading for is going to be much more dangerous than the ones he's already been into. The Cretaceous is next.
To get there Nigel will have to go back 84 million years ago in the Cretaceous. At this time dinosaurs were more common than ever including the earlier relatives to the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex.
But much more fearsome creatures were hiding in the sea. One of these was the T rex of the sea.
Alright then that ends off the Jurassic segment. I also plan on making a few changes to the Triassic segment before moving onto the Cretaceous segment. I hope you enjoy the Cretaceous segment when it's out. Thanks for reading this and never stop being yourself.