14" Partial Fossil Plesiosaur Paddle - Goulmima, Morocco

This is a partial paddle of what would have been a very large Plesiosaur. It was collected from the Upper Cretaceous (Early Turonian Stage) deposits North of Goulmima, Morocco. It appears that the rest of the paddle probably had been exposed on the surface and eroded away. There are several species of Plesiosaurs known from this area including both short and long necked varieties. There is no restoration and only some minor crack repair/stabalization on this piece.

Plesiosaurs where long-necked marine reptiles with four flippers that appeared in the Triassic and died out along with the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period. They reached quite larges sizes, some species as long at 17 meters, and caught slow moving prey. Plesiosaurs breathed air, and bore live young; there are indications that they were warm-blooded.