Ancient Marine Reptile Growth Rates?

[MariusRomanus@aol.com]

I have a question about the growth rates of marine reptiles.  Now, I'm not 
talking about itty bitty modern sea turtles... What I've always been curious 
about are the estimates proposed for the bigger variety, like mosasaurs, 
plesiosaurs, etc.  I have a few papers and books on marine reps (extinct and 
extant), but the subject of growth rates really aren't discussed (for the 
living versions, the data available is meager at best).  Has any real work ever 
been done on the subject of ancient marine reptile growth rates?  The largest 
sea turtles alive today (leatherbacks) only reach about 2m and 1400lbs... with 
30 years of their lives spent reaching maturity (other species can take 50 
years!).  For argument's sake, if you want to stick as close as you can to 
Mesozoic ocean-like temps, in the southern Bahamas, for example, green turtles 
only grow from 30 to 75 cm in 17 years, and there's indications that growth 
rates decrease with increasing carapace length.

All of this begs the question... How long did it take for an elasmosaurus to 
reach 14m with a weight of 2 tonnes?  And for that matter, at what age did it 
begin to breed?

Any thoughts on the subject would be most appreciated.

Thanks.
 
Kris
Saurierlagen@gmail.com