[Article]: Tusoteuthis and the Cretaceous Giant Squids

[tonmo]

Phil Eyden has published a new article on TONMO.com:

Tusoteuthis and the Cretaceous Giant Squids

As usual, Phil's article provides vivid detail and captivating images. Don't miss his illustration of Cimolychthys choking on a Tusoteuthis! For more Fossil articles, please visit our Fossils and History section.

Thanks Phil, you rock! (Get it? Fossils, rock? heheheh... )

, Phil!

[lifetrance]

Interesting article, Phil. Choking on a Tusoteuthis, that's quite a way to go, haha. Reminds me of a time I got a Skittle caught in my throat--ended up collapsing on the floor and nearly asphyxiating before a group of my bewildered friends. I think that would have earned me a place in history, alongside Mr. Cimolychthys 8)

[Architeuthoceras]

Great job Phil

Nice drawings, I thought you were just a Photo Shop artist, looks like you were born with a pencil in your hand :)

A few questions, would the fact that most of the sediment entering the western interior sea came from the west, be why most of the squid fossils are found on the eastern side? Do squid have an aversion to turbid water? Or was it because the sea was deeper on the eastern side (limestone and marl in the eastern part, shale and silt in my little corner)?

[spartacus]

WTG Idaho ! whoop whoop, hi
That should make a few sperm whales reconsider their self importance !
I for one had never considered the possibility of mortal combat between the pliosaurs & teuthids but I am a eruditory sponge & the gap has been filled.

who to cheer on though being a pliosaur fan
great work with the carbon platelets Phil but you missed the blue band across the top for the sky & are there any photos of the flat muddy bottom ?

[Phil]

A few questions, would the fact that most of the sediment entering the western interior sea came from the west, be why most of the squid fossils are found on the eastern side? Do squid have an aversion to turbid water? Or was it because the sea was deeper on the eastern side (limestone and marl in the eastern part, shale and silt in my little corner)?

Oh I wish I could answer those questions, Kevin but I'm afraid I must admit defeat there! I had a search around for information for you earlier on deposition rates and depths in the Western Interior Sea but unfortunately drew a blank. I suppose it is possible that squid fossils could found in the western margins but just have not been located yet, afterall squid are very rare fossils in North America in general, I doubt if to date 20 Tusoteuthis fossils have been identified (my guess). Maybe they are there awaiting to be discovered.....though maybe not.... As you say, I too was under the impression that squid prefer calm water rather than choppy seas but I think Sir Steve may be able to help us with that one. It might be worth dropping Mike Everhart of the Sternberg Museum 'Oceans of Kansas' website an e-mail as I'm sure he could help. Sorry!

Thanks for the kind words everyone. You know, I'm going to have to change my mosasaur drawing as those creatures were broader at the shoulders and not as pot-bellied as I have drawn it. Still it was my first attempt ever to draw one of those things, obviously it was stuffed full of large teuthids at the time it posed for a sketch. :)

(1000 posts. Already?)

[Phil]

Here are a couple of pics that didn't make it. Here's the actual fossil of the Tusoteuthis pen wedged in the mouth and gills of Cimolichthys, but the quality was far too poor to include, a pity. One can just about make out what is going on, the spade shape of the gladius can be seen wedged in the gill area.

Attached is another photo of the 1998 Boreopeltis specimen from Queensland which I was unable to find out any more details about. Also, here is a picture I put together comparing various gladius forms but then got rid of because it is completely unhelpful!

[cthulhu77]

speechless. very nice stuff.

[Architeuthoceras]

That unhelpful picture was very helpful, thanks for posting it Phil

[spartacus]

That unhelpful picture was very helpful, thanks for posting it Phil

Here, here (hear ?) Kevin most enlightening even if bit fuzzy but at 39.4726776 years old most of what I see is fuzzy


I know an old Cimolichthys who swallowed a Tusoteuthis
I don't know why she swallowed a Tusoteuthis I guess she'll die,
She swallowed the Tusoteuthis to catch the Liopleurodon Ferox etc etc...

With regards to Kevin & his BFH of a sedimentation question, I recall we covered this topic at middle school circa. 1976 & I recall the finest silts were carried over to the eastern side of the Western Interior sea on an El Niņo type current which had cooled sufficiently by then to sink & unload. hope this helps.
for Phil's efforts

[Architeuthoceras]

It seems Cimolicthys likes to swallow things it can't digest
Coprolite
(see the coprolite about 8 down from the top)

In middle school here, they teach us that all fossils were formed in Lake Bonneville, a Pleistocene lake that covered about half the state, so they are only about 10,000 to 20,000 years old

[spartacus]

Kevin my erudite friend , seems Cimolichthys had a death wish or had stared extinction in the eye & accepted it's fate by accelerating it's demise.

Coprolite #1 is a classic curly is it not, no doubt sort after by poo buffs

In middle school here

& here I had a serious rant with our teacher Doddy Holder who insisted that the sun is not a star
I even got detention for my insolence & people wonder why I'm a git

[Phil]

I know an old Cimolichthys who swallowed a Tusoteuthis
I don't know why she swallowed a Tusoteuthis I guess she'll die,
She swallowed the Tusoteuthis to catch the Liopleurodon Ferox etc etc...

:D I really think we should have a thread devoted to silly fossil ceph song corruptions. Spartacus, you are an inspiration!

Here are a few more pics of Tusoteuthis gladius fragments. These specimens are typical of the level of preservation of these things. All are from the Pierre Shale exposures near Morden in Manitoba. (Photographs from the Journal of Paleontology July 1987). These photos are of the specimen at Morden District Museum Q77.02.77 in ventral and dorsal views.

The third picture is of ventral views of two other specimens and a cross section of the rhachis. (Not lateral as the caption indicates).

[Phil]

And our old friend Cimolichthys, arch-nemesis of the paleoteuthid:

[spartacus]

Spartacus, you are an inspiration!

plenty more where that came from :D
ol' Cimolichtys looked pretty moody though I reckon he'd soon fall foul of the old double caster & redworm cocktail & waggler tactics.

[Phil]

Here's a great image kindly supplied by Mike Everhart of a Tusoteuthis gladius that measures 75cm(ish) in length with an ammonite as companion. It is housed in the University of Kansas collection.

Thanks Mike!

[Architeuthoceras]

That is a nice big squid, and I hate to change the topic of this thread, but, that ammonite has punctures from the teeth of a mososaur. The question is, how come it didnt crush the shell? The septa probably prevented overall crushing of the shell, did the mososaur know just how much pressure to apply? Why not just crush the shell and eat the ammonite? Why just puncture the shell?

[spartacus]

Kevin, that's a pair of "eagle eyes" you've got there

could not the Mosasaur, as a marine reptile, not benefit of the same ability to control bite pressure in the same way as our crocodilian friends still do today with amazing precision
Maybe it was just a wee lovebite to get the ammonite to abandon ship as a boiled egg with bits of shell in is
Which raises another question for you spurts, could ammonites ditch the shell in an emergency (pun)

[Architeuthoceras]

A new page on the Oceans Of Kansas website

Cimolichthys

with tales of Tusoteuthis and glutony :D

[Phil]

All photos restored except the 'Unhelpful Image', which I can't find. Still, not to worry, it wasn't very helpful anyway.

[Phil]

Mike Everhart's book 'The Oceans of Kansas' is now published. I have not seen it so I'm not sure if it contains any further details on Tusoteuthis or the other Western Interior Seaway shelled cephalopods or not. No matter, I expect it is a very good read and a cracker for anyone interested in mosasaurs:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/025...lance&n=283155