Thiemo is traversing into unknown waters. Here it is deeper and darker, a mysterious world...

Thiemo harbours enormous eyes. Temnodontosaurus have one of the largest eyes in the animal kingdom, as adults, which is incredible to see through the dark water.

However Thiemo isn't foolish to venture into the open ocean. The shores still provide some places where deep water exists. At the bottom of steep ravines, a conspicuous bay is formed, shadowed by the tall mountains of rock that surround them. A perfect cradle of preparation to the life in the open sea, that adult Temnodontosaurus so procure.

All is quiet... for now. Thiemo will soon realize he is not the only one who found this place opportune.

Thiemo must stay cautious. The dark hides monsters...

Thiemo is startled by a gigantic Strongylosteus hindenburgi. A massive one tonne beast that is distantly related to the modern sturgeons and paddlefish. Measuring up to 4.5 meters in length, the Strongylosteus are formidable carnivores, but move rather slowly and steadily most of the time, only making sprints whenever something interesting comes along, gulping up the prey in a feeding spectacle. Thiemo would be a tantalizing target, but our protagonist is too quick and too large, but like with many opportunists in the early Jurassic, this pursuit was worth the try.

Thiemo did not came here to be hunted, but Strongylosteus are manageable here. The bay is a secure place where large dangerous predators are few, and its instead an ideal spot for smaller animals to abound.

Many species of fish and cephalopod gather here to breed and to feed. Large blooms of plankton attract some of the most majestic creatures of the Jurassic seas. Some of them are titans, like the Phylloceras heterophyllum, massive ammonites of a shell diameter nearing a meter. They extend their large tentacles ready to tackle any small fish or coleoid that may come through, and their shells are hydrodynamic enough to allow these cephalopods to swim relatively fast. But they aren't faster than Thiemo, who crosses through them, undisturbed. Thiemo is after something simpler...

A school of Ptycholepis bollensis, primitive ray-finned fish. The bioproductivity of this bay is enticing, so these fish gather here in numbers.

Thiemo hunts them from below. Like many ichthyosaurs, Temnodontosaurus are dark colored on the top of their body, and white colored on their bellies. This coloration is called countershading and allows these formidable predators to be able to blend in with the dark bottom of the sea, when seen from above, and with the bright sunny surface when seen from below.

Now Thiemo has to choose when to strike...

Success...

The ecosystem of the Posidonia Shale becomes more and more complex as we further explore it. This bay will provide a glimpse of what's to come. Thiemo will come to this bay as long as it is safe and productive. A valuable training ground for the years ahead.

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