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Halidraco carcharodon

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You want big, nasty varanoids which could swallow helpless children in one piece and bring ships on the sea bed for fun... sorry monster hunters,  these animals are just freaking huge (nearly 11 m but normally 9 m) . Halidraco, the biggest reptile on earth and the biggest natrixosaur which still exists. These shy giants inhabit the northern Pacific- and Atlantic ocean where they are at the end of the food chain. There are two species, H. carachodon, which roam the Atlantic, and H. pazificus (guess where it live).
Halidrao is known for yearly migrations which follow the killer-, gray- and humpback whales at the edge of the arctic circle. Especially H. pazificus is known for this behavior which is very well studied by several authors. The follow the large mammals because they are not only predators but also scavengers. The Orcas come together at the entrance of the Bering sea where they hunt mainly calves of gray whales, sometimes also humpback whales, but because the often eat only a small part of the cadaver it's left enough for a few hungry bears, which waits at the beaches, and some sea serpents. 
The migrations of H. carcharodon are less well known, because there isn't a barrier like the Aleutian islands which would make it easy to watch them. We know that some animals migrate along the norwegian coast (do you know the Midgard Serpent?) but the rest...well, we don't know. Sometimes a few specimens are seen at the canadian coast (and inspired the Cadborosaurus myth) but this seems to be random encounters (and elks, seals, whales and trees in the water seems to be inspirations too).

Since the populations of right whales decreased extremely fish becomes a more and more important source of food for the sea serpents, pregnant females often follow the swarms of Atlantic herring, not only to hunt the fishes but also to catch some of the species which hunt the herrings. 
When returning from their summer quarters they stop in kelp forests to give birth to 2 babies. At the same time they have their yearly molting. This skin is much fatter and protein-rich than this of other species. The young sea serpents nibble it from the flanks of their mother, their first meal. After a few days or weeks they begin to hunt for themselves and the mother return to the ocean. But this is still the most distinctive form of parental care in natrixosaurs.

Edit: This is the last, still existing, Sea Serpent I can show you here, 7 species is all what is left of this family.

Other sae serpents:
extinct freshwater sea serpents: hyrotrioskjan.deviantart.com/a…
Cavinatrix: hyrotrioskjan.deviantart.com/a…
Gracilinatrix: hyrotrioskjan.deviantart.com/a…
Bibonatrix: hyrotrioskjan.deviantart.com/a…
Asperognathus: hyrotrioskjan.deviantart.com/a…
Natrixosaurus: hyrotrioskjan.deviantart.com/a…

Edit 2: Soon all my sea serpent stuff will be exhibit at the Geomuseum Münster, a museum for paleontology and geology, the exhibition will have the title (translated) "Sea Serpents - worth protecting exotics from the realm of the legend", beside these pictures I will show work on toned paper and fossils of an young freshwater river serpent which died in the bronze age.

Edit 3: sketch which lead to this design: hyrotrioskjan.deviantart.com/a…
Image size
6202x3908px 1.67 MB
© 2014 - 2024 Hyrotrioskjan
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Lediblock2's avatar
If you don't mind me asking, what were those extinct giant sea serpents? Will we see art of them sometime in the future?