Fauna
The Sundance Sea was rich in many types of animals. Gryphaea was extremely common, and shark teeth have been found. In addition to fish, belemnites and to an extent ammonites swarmed in shoals. Crinoids and bivalvia dotted the seafloor. Ophthalmosaurus, a large ichthyosaur, swam in the seas using its large, long jaws to catch belemnite 'squid'. Pantosaurus, a cryptocleid plesiosaur the size of a seal, went after the easier-to-catch fish. The largest marine reptile in the Sundance Sea was Megalneusaurus, a large pliosaur similar to Liopleurodon. Its fossils have been found in Alaska and Wyoming, which were both covered by the Sundance Sea when it was alive.
During the periods of recession, dinosaurs and other Jurassic terrestrial animals frequented the shores, as evidenced by the Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite near Shell, Wyoming.
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Famous quotes containing the word fauna:
“The whole fauna of human fantasies, their marine vegetation, drifts and luxuriates in the dimly lit zones of human activity, as though plaiting thick tresses of darkness. Here, too, appear the lighthouses of the mind, with their outward resemblance to less pure symbols. The gateway to mystery swings open at the touch of human weakness and we have entered the realms of darkness. One false step, one slurred syllable together reveal a man’s thoughts.”
—Louis Aragon (1897–1982)