#metriorhynchids

-draw him as either a mosasaur or metriorhynchid for mermay

-draw him mauling jax from tadc

-show my art of him to my family's friends coming to visit this weekend.

-draw him and hsien-ko in a parody of that infamous "hide away" meme.

-write an uber self-indulgent and shameless fanfic about him and hsien-ko on squidgeworld.

I can do this. This'll be no problem.

Archovember Day 24: Cricosaurus suevicus

Last year I drew Dakosaurus, and now it’s time for its skinny cousin Cricosaurus to take the spotlight.

Cricosaurus is a genus of long-snouted Metriorhynchid crocodyliform fully adapted to marine life. Like most other Metriorhynchids, it had paddle-like feet, a tail fluke, and smooth skin. Cricosaurus adults and juveniles both had well-developed salt glands, which allowed them to drink salt water and eat seafood without dehydrating. It also seemed to have a large pelvic opening which would have allowed it to give live birth.

Cricosaurus suevicus shared its territory with a variety of other marine crocodylomorphs in the Late Jurassic ocean which would one day be Germany. It is suspected that this was possible due to niche partitioning: larger, short-snouted metriorhynchids like Dakosaurus and Geosaurus would have been the apex predators, while smaller, long-snouted species like Rhacheosaurus and Cricosaurus, as well as the teleosaurid Steneosaurus, would have preferred different types of fish. Cricosaurus suevicus was about 6 feet long.

Video by PBS Eons: When Crocs Thrived in the Seas:

So I decided to do mermay for my sona, and figured what better candidate to have him be than a metriorhynchid?

For those who don't know, metriorhynchids were a group of acrocodile relatives from the jurassic that evolved fully aquatic lifestyles, even becoming warm-blooded and giving live birth. Their called "mer-crocs" for a reason.

And just for the fun of it, I thought I'd add some marine reptiles of today for fun too! Clockwise: blue lipped sea krait, marine iguana, leatherback seaturtle, saltwater crocodile.