Dinosaurs of the Deep: Discover Prehistoric Marine Life

A gigantic sea dwelling mosasaur rises from the watery depths and saves the day in the summer blockbuster Jurassic World. However, these fearsome waterborne predators were anything but heroic, at nearly 50 feet in length and 50 tonnes, mosasaurs made tyrannosaurs look like cuddly puppies.

Since their discovery almost two hundred years ago, dinosaurs have captured the imaginations of children and adults alike. What many don’t know is that “dinosaur” the term refers specifically to land born prehistoric reptiles. Despite being discovered nearly 50 years before the before the first dinosaur fossils, prehistoric aquatic creatures like mosasaurs and plesiosaurs have been largely overshadowed by triceratops, apatosaurus and the fierce T-rex. “Dinosaurs of the Deep” looks to change this by shedding light on the incredible diversity of prehistoric life that was living just beneath the water’s surface. At the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre (CFDC) in Morden, Manitoba lies one of the world’s largest public collections of prehistoric marine fossils, including “Bruce” the world’s largest mosasaur skeleton. Through a cooperative partnership between Turnstone Press and the CFDC, Larry Verstraete, award-winning author of 13 non-fiction books, presents the fossils of the western interior seaway, with fascinating facts, full colour paleoart and illustrations, and inspiring discovery stories of amateurs teaming up with academics to make astonishing finds that change the way we understand our past.