An iconic and much-loved ancient sea monster has been revealed to be an entirely new and "very odd" species of plesiosaur—solving a nearly 40-year-old fossil mystery.

Traskasaura sandrae , which lived some 85 million years ago around what is today Canada's Vancouver Island, grew to at least 39 feet long.

Like other plesiosaurs, it had a long neck, comprising at least 50 bones, but also "robust" teeth that would have been ideal for crushing the shells of its ammonite prey.

Unlike its counterparts, however, Traskasaura sandrae had an odd mixture of classic and evolved plesiosaur traits, which the researchers believe may have made it the first to be able to hunt prey from above, with a strong affinity for downward swimming.

"Plesiosaur fossils have been known for decades in British C

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