Giant ichthyosaur’s huge tooth points to sea creatures with robust bite

Reconstruction of a giant ichthyosaur from the late Triassic period, bulk-feeding on small squid. Photograph: Marcello Perillo/University of Bonn

The remains of a huge sea creature with enormous teeth that could have helped it capture giant squid have been found in the Swiss Alps.

Ichthyosaurs were large marine reptiles with an elongated, snakey shape. They first emerged after the end of the Permian extinction, an event also known as the “great dying”, which occurred about 250m years ago and which wiped out more than two-thirds of species on land and 96% of marine species.