‘Nightmarish’ 27ft lizard with ‘doll teeth’ ruled the ocean with ‘terrible’ bite

A giant ancient sea lizard has been discovered by paleontologists and it’s a strange new species.

The lizard has dagger-like teeth and is thought to have lived towards the end of the dinosaur era.

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This new species, now extinct, is called Khinjaria acuta.

It grew to about 27 feet long, making it about the size of an orca.

Experts say the fearsome species is a new addition to a group of ancient beasts called mosasaurs.

Today, Komodo dragons and anaconda are the remaining relatives of these sea lizards.

A study on the new beast has been published in the Cretaceous research log.

The study was led by Dr Nick Longrich from the University of Bath.

‘Some mosasaurs had teeth for piercing prey, others for cutting, tearing or crushing.

“Now we have Khinjaria, with a short face full of huge, dagger-shaped teeth.

“This is one of the most diverse marine faunas ever seen anywhere in history, and existed just before the marine reptiles and dinosaurs became extinct,” he said.

Remains of the sea lizard were found in a phosphate mine southeast of Casablanca, Morocco.

A skull and part of a skeleton were discovered at the site.

A wide range of marine predators are thought to have lived in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Morocco around the time of Khinjaria.

“What’s remarkable here is the sheer diversity of top predators,” Longrich said.

“We have several species that grow larger than a great white shark, and they are apex predators, but they all have different teeth, which suggests they hunt in different ways.”

Professor N.E. Jalil from the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle also worked on the research.

“The elongation of the posterior part of the skull, which housed the jaw muscles, indicates a terrible bite force,” they said.