IS IT a fish? Is it a dinosaur? No – it’s an ancient cousin of the crocodile, nicknamed “Godzilla”.
Until recently, Dakosaurus andiniensis was known only from fragmentary bones. But now a fossil discovered in western Argentina suggests it was a 4-metre-long creature living 135 million years ago, with the massive skull of a predatory dinosaur and the tail of a fish. “It’s certainly the most bizarre of all marine crocs,” says Diego Pol of Ohio State University, who was in the team that discovered the fossil.
Strictly speaking, Dakosaurus was a crocodyliform and not a true crocodile. The group…
