Some time ago, a newly discovered species of marine crocodile made a big splash in the press. The crocodile, widely known in the media as Godzilla the crocodile, was named Dakosaurus andiniensis .
In press reports, there is often talk of a giant crocodile; in fact, the remains of this species found so far do not indicate that it was larger than today’s large armored lizards. Nowadays, that’s just the thoughts of journalists. “Giant Godzilla alligator” sounds a lot better than “large metriorhynchid with cranial adaptations to macropredators.”
In any case, this animal became world famous and only because it had an interesting skull, unlike today’s crocodiles, which are long and narrow snout or short and wide snout, which are generally very compact and above all, very tall. The head is more reminiscent of the skulls of various terrestrial carnivorous reptiles, such as terrestrial sebecids, or some archosaurs and theropods.
The jaws are relatively short and very strong, and everything suggests that we are not dealing with a fish-eater but with a creature that has killed relatively large prey and is capable of tearing large pieces of flesh. from corpses in the same way. What is completely overlooked in all the news is that “Godzilla” has a brother, or rather a cousin. We’re talking about Dakosaurus maximus , a giant metriorhynchid whose remains were found in Germany. This monster reached a length of about 8 meters, at least two meters longer than Dakosaurus andiniensis . Because its caudal fin was formed by a downward-curving tail tip, as in ichthyosaurs, Dakosaurus was relatively more compact than normal crocodiles, as the tail length accounted for less of the total length. The weight of large specimens can reach three tons, much heavier than any great white shark. The skull of Dakosaurus maximus is also very solidly built, with very long and slightly curved back teeth, and very strong jaws. The skull shows great similarities to that of Dakosaurus andiniensis , but is even longer, less tall, and more robust. That their jaws were extremely strong is partly demonstrated by fossils of smaller marine crocodiles, which were literally bitten to pieces by Dakosaurus.
Dakosaurus was still a crocodile, and all modern crocodiles, without exception, have a relatively typical structure of large, polygonal scales. Species that are very closely associated with water, such as the Indian crocodile, also have such a skin structure, and even when a species is completely adapted to marine life, the surface becomes slimmer. than proportionately, for example due to uneven skin tone, such as those caused by dorsal ridges or armor plates will regress, but I see no reason why the actual skin structure should change.
Here you can see another skull, unfortunately only preserved as a fragment. Very large and long teeth clearly visible:
