Message #237056

[In the Mouth of Madness]

Omura et al:21

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      ‘ … by a close examination of the photograph we can clearly distinguish the base of dorsal fin, though it had slipped from the mid-dorsal line … ’ (see Figure 5). (Plesiosaurs do not have dorsal fins.)
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      ‘There were mycomata in the dorsal muscles.’ Mycomata consist of strong connective tissue between muscle segments and are present in sharks but not in reptiles (see Figure 5).
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      ‘It had pectoral and dorsal fins with fin-rays characteristic of fish.’

Hasegawa and Uyeno:31

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      ‘In plesiosaurs, the bones of all the limbs exist at the ventral portion of the body. If the creature was a plesiosaur reptile, the ventral parts of the body, including the limbs would have already been detached from the backbone.’
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      ‘If it were a plesiosaur, the body would not take on the bent posture as shown in the photograph, … because the breast bone is large and flat’ (Figure 3a).
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      ‘Also, some sets on [sic, of] costa-like bones on the ventral side, which are located on the abdomen of plesiosaurs are absent in this creature.’
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      ‘ … the head of the animal resembles that of a turtle but plesiosaurian reptiles have somewhat triangular skulls.’
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      ‘At this degree of decomposition, some teeth should still be remaining on the upper jaw.’