No aquatic reptile today can compare to the prehistoric mosasaurs, Cretaceous ocean-dwelling creatures that looked like a cross between a whale and a shark.

Now, a team of researchers has discovered a new species of carnivorous mosasaur, which they believe bridges the gap between reptile and prehistoric shark.

It is an ancient species of giant sea lizard, snake and shark, which was discovered in 2015 in North Dakota, USA, in an area where there was an ancient sea.

Paleontologists named the prehistoric monster Jörmungandr, after the serpent of Norse mythology that destroyed the world.

The find was presented two days ago at an event of the American Museum of Natural History.

Amelia Zitlow, a postdoctoral student in comparative biology at the Richard Gilder School of Graduate Studies, and her colleagues found the nearly complete skull, jaws, cervical spine and several vertebrae of the mosasaur in 2015.

According to their paper, Jörmungandr walhallaensis was 7 meters long, had huge fins and a shark-like tail that helped it glide through the water.
He also had a bony ridge on his skull that made him look like he had “angry eyebrows”.