14 DAY TRIAL // Some 160 million years ago, a ginormous fish that could grow to measure an impressive 52 feet (almost 16 meters) in length called out planet's oceans its home.
Specialists suspect that its weight was comparable to that of three adult African elephants. Sources report that this species, dubbed Leedsichthys fish, emerged in the middle Jurassic, and stuck around until the end of the Cretaceous. This means that it managed to survive for an impressive 100 million years.
Leedsichthys fish remains were first unearthed in England in 1886. Other fossils were later unearthed in other parts of the world.
The only problem was that these fossil fragments were rather small, hence the fact that it took scientists some time to figure out which creature they belonged to.
After spending many years analyzing the fossils, scientists concluded that the fish was a filter-feeder.
This means that, much like some whales do these days, it used to let seawater pass through its mouth and feast on whatever creatures (i.e. fish, shrimp and jellyfish) got caught in a structure on its gills.