Elasmosaur

Oaruwyrm is the Modern English word for "oar wyrm".

• Singular: oarwyrm

• Plural: oarwyrms

It was so-named ("near lizard"; Greek: πλησίος (plesios), near to + σαῦρος (sauros), lizard) by William Conybeare and Henry De la Beche, to indicate that it was more like a normal reptile than Ichthyosaurus, which had been found in the same rock strata just a few years earlier.

• Singular: plesiosaur

• Plural: plesiosaurs

These reptiles, which were around 34 feet (or 10.3 meters) long, had streamlined bodies and legs that were formed like paddles or flippers to aid in swimming through the water. They were able to approach their prey closer because to their flippers because they lacked flexible necks. They had a triangular-shaped head with a big jaw and smaller teeth near the back of their mouth. Their front teeth resembled fangs. They most likely had about 40 teeth in total, based on the present specimens that are known.

Only in shallow water, where it could rest its body on the bottom, could Elasmosaurus elevate its head and neck above the water. Elasmosaurus would not have been able to raise its head and neck very high due to the weight of the neck, the restricted muscle action, and the limited mobility between the vertebrae. Elasmosaurus' head and shoulders most likely served as a rudder. The rest of the animal's body would move in the same way if the anterior part of the body moved in that direction. Elasmosaurus would not have been able to swim in one way while moving its head and neck in a different direction, whether it was vertically or horizontally.

Elasmosaurids had streamlined bodies and long paddles that suggest they were active swimmers, and they were completely adapted to life in the ocean. Elasmosaurids' peculiar body structures would have limited how fast they could swim, and it's possible that their paddles operated in a way like how oars row, making it impossible for them to twist and holding themselves rigidly. Even the ability to maintain a consistent, high body temperature (homeothermy) was thought to have allowed plesiosaurs to swim continuously.

All species of plesiosaurs in Rapunzel's universe have the ability to shoot highly pressurized water jets at their enemies, causing them to become wet and infrequently stunned. Before a plesiosaur utilizes the water as a weapon, it swallows it while swimming, much like an archerfish or chipmunk.

Elasmosaurs predominantly preyed on fish and ancient cephalopods like belemnites and ammonites, a group that includes modern squids and octopuses. Elasmosaurs are thought to have been somewhat sluggish ambush predators who caught their victims using their long necks and small, pointed teeth. Elasmosaurids probably ate small fish and marine invertebrates, seizing them with their long teeth, and may have used gastroliths (stomach stones) to help digest their food.

Elasmosaurus and all plesiosaurs are typically seen lying horizontally close to the water's surface, just like sperm whales and other cetaceans do today. They can, however, drift in groups for roughly 20 to 35 minutes at a time while resting vertically and in a deeper state of sleep where they glide just below the water's surface.

Reproduction

• Gave birth to live young (viviparous), not eggs

• Evidence suggests:

  • Very few offspring

  • Large newborns (possibly 1.5–2 m long)

  • Strong K-selected strategy (high parental investment)

• Pregnant females likely sought shallow, safer waters.

Elasmosaurus was mostly solitary, had seasonal mating gatherings, moved calmly and deliberately, and had intelligence comparable to that of contemporary seals or sea turtles. There is no indication that this plesiosaur exhibited sophisticated social behavior. Elasmosaurus had a temperament similar to that of a whale shark or elephant seal, but it was more terrifying. It would probably avoid boats and ships, ignore swimmers unless startled, and be dangerous only in accidental collisions.

This species was extinct during the K–Pg mass extinction (~66 Ma).

Their primary causes:

• Asteroid impact

• Collapse of marine food webs

• Ocean acidification

• Sudden climate change

• Specialized feeders like Elasmosaurus were especially vulnerable.

They lived in the Western Interior Seaway during the Late Cretaceous, and their fossils were discovered in North America (USA: Kansas, South Dakota, Wyoming). Warm, shallow epicontinental waters and open ocean close to continental shelves are Elasmosaurus' primary preferred habitats.

• Movement Pattern: Random

• Individual Type: Solo

• Population Trend: Stable

• Population: 0

• Locomotion: Aquatic

• Habitat: Warm Littoral; Cold Littoral; Warm Intertidal; Cold Intertidal; Kelp Forest; Coral Reef; Barrier Reef; Guyot; Neritic Zone (Warm); Neritic Zone (Cold); Pelagic Zone (Warm); Pelagic Zone (Cold); Benthic Zone.

• Earth: 

  • Extinct: Mexico; United States

Since the survivor is always within 8 radius of the egg sac hatching, all plesiosaurs are instantly domesticated when they emerge from an egg sac. A whip, fish flesh, mollusk meat, or fish eggs can all be used to tame a plesiosaur if it isn't already trained when it is born.

No Way to Seaway prologue - 66,000,000,000 BCE-2019 AD

In Saurfolk mythology and later religions made by humans, Elasmosaurus that live on the sea to animal and finally humans, made in the image of First Civilization were created during Late Cretaceous, mostly the gods are Saurfolk-like highly-advanced species before evolution of birds and mammals in Paleocene.

No Way to Seaway series - 2010s

Princess Meranie Jorpassadal and Duke Ronaldo's Sundrop and Moonstone magic, as well as being manipulated by Pieces of Eden or Terran Old Artifacts, allowed the Kaiwhekea and other Late Cretaceous organisms to target and breed great white sharks somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, from the Osaka region to the city of Auckland in August 2018.

At the conclusion of the story, Adonis and Hephaestus each move some Elasmosaurus from the Late Cretaceous to the Holocene in California across Guatemala to everywhere else. Mosasaurus, Xiphactinus, Lepidotes, and others were observed swimming with a school of whales, dolphins, fish, seals, and sea snakes since Mosasaurus hoffmannii was king of the seas prior to Meranie and Ronaldo's wedding.

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• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elasmosaurus

• https://www.deviantart.com/ognimdo2002/art/Elasmosaurus-platyurus-963193593