BIG FISH & OTHER BIG THINGS

[darren.naish@port.ac.uk]

Another quick response to Colin's email. Timely though, 
because I spent time last week at the Progressive 
Palaeontology conference at Leicester, and of course 
Leicester Museum (where the reception was held) is the 
home of both the mounted Rutland cetiosaur and the 
'Barrow kipper' (a _Rhomaleosaurus megacephalus_). Also 
got the Martill tour of midlands geology including lots of 
Oxford Clay stops - I met Alan Dawn for the first time and 
also visited our new _Leedsichthys_ site. Oh yeah, and 
Hatari! was on Channel 5 yesterday.

On giant pliosaurs, Colin wrote...

> Providing you're not basing that estimate on the 13 metres for
> _Kronosaurus_ that we used in the 1996 abstract, then that  _does_
> sound interesting.  

We're aware that existing _Kronosaurus_ length estimates 
are dubious (come on Colin, how long have we been 
corresponding for?:)). The length estimates are based on 
comparison with non-composite/non-fictional pliosaur 
skeletons. Details in the paper, assuming we ever get it out 
(Dave, me and Les Noe produced a popular effort along 
these lines in _Dino Press_ 4 (I think)).

Estimates of total length based on jaw fragments should be 
taken with a dose of salt, especially following your 
reconstruction of _Kronosaurus_ (the 'swimming skull' 
one). But it's possible that skull length: total length was a 
constant in some plesiosaurs, it is supposed to be so for 
some crocodylians including _Crocodylus niloticus_ I 
think. 

> And look me in the
> eye and tell me that you wouln't assign fossils of male and female
> _Mirounga_ to different species...

Indeed. Possible males and females of one monachine, 
_Callophoca_, have been assigned to different species. 
Because _Callophoca_ is apparently close to _Mirounga_, 
de Muizon suggested that the two species (which differ 
markedly in size) could be sexual dimorphs of the same 
animal. On the subject of miroungins, I forgot to say that 
Karlsruhe Museum has a mounted _Mirounga_ skeleton. 
Mightily impressive it is too.

Self beaching..
 
> I was aware of the belugas (I just forgot); didn't know about the
> _Tursiops_ or the _Inia_.  Any refs?

The paper on _Tursiops_ is.. Hoese, H. D. 1971. Dolphin 
feeding out of water in salt marsh. _Journal of 
Mammalogy_ 52, 222-223, and (IIRC) the reference to 
_Inia_ is cited in Richard Ellis' _Dolphins and Porpoises_. 
It's a popular article by Richard Sanderson. 

Darren Naish
School of Earth & Environmental Sciences
University of Portsmouth
Burnaby Building
Burnaby Road                           email: darren.naish@port.ac.uk
Portsmouth UK                          tel: 023 92846045                   
PO1 3QL                                www.palaeobiology.co.uk