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Description
105 million years ago during the early Cretaceous period in the waters of the Eromanga Sea, which has now become the Toolebuc Formation of Queensland, Australia, the giant pliosaur Eiectus longmani/Kronosaurus queenslandicus gets some competition while it feeds on its kill, a long-necked plesiosaur Eromangasaurus australis. As the blood of the plesiosaur leaks into the water, it starts attracting other carnivores to scavenge, the largest being an 8-meter long cardabiodontid shark trying to take a bite out of the flipper while the pliosaur is still biting on the head of its kill.

Drawing made for Shark Awareness Day (July 14) and I guess an early Shark Week too. The unfortunately-named Eromanga Sea was an inland seaway that stretched across the center of Australia during the Cretaceous period, and while it existed it was home to various marine reptiles, fish and invertebrates. Perhaps the most well-known animal from this seaway was a 9 to 11-meter long marine reptile of the pliosaur order originally named Kronosaurus queenslandicus. However in 2021 a paper found that the holotype specimen of Kronosaurus was so fragmentary that the genus should be deemed dubious, and all other, more complete Australian material of the animal was moved to the new name Eiectus longmani (so like a Troodon-Stenonychosaurus case). Whatever you wanna call it, there's no doubting the giant Australian pliosaur was a top predator in the Eromanga, its sheer size, strong jaws and sharp teeth allowing it to kill and eat almost every other animal it lived alongside. In fact the fossil skull and neck of Eromangasaurus, a 9-meter elasmosaurid plesiosaur from the same area, shows bite marks matching the jaws of Kronosaurus/Eiectus, proving the pliosaur did indeed eat large prey.

Whilst the pliosaur was certainly a formidable predator, it may have had some competition from a large shark in the Eromanga. Paleontologist Mikael Siversson has mentioned in various parts of the internet (such as This video and this forum ) that fossil teeth and vertebrae of a large shark belonging in the extinct Cardabiodontidae family are known from the Toolebuc Formation, and the shark is also mentioned in this paper . Whilst this Toolebuc cardabiodontid is not yet described and has no scientific name yet, it is believed to be much larger than other known cardabiodonts like the 5.5-meter Cardabiodon ricki and Dwardius, growing over 8 and possibly reaching 9 meters in length, and individuals exceeding 6 meters would not be rare. Whilst nowhere near as big as an Otodus megalodon, the Toolebuc cardabiodontid would still be one of the largest Mesozoic sharks and likely capable of hunting marine reptiles like plesiosaurs and large turtles, possibly even rival or hunt the young of Kronosaurus/Eiectus.

Other animals are the 7-meter ichthyosaur Longirostria/Platypterygius australis (I elaborate more on what a taxonomic mess it is here ) in the background near the bottom right, and the many fish around the bottom are Pachyrhizodus marathonensis, a predatory ray-finned fish growing over 80 centimeters long, likely with an ecological niche comparable to mackerel (also first P. marathonensis on DA!).

Yes I realize putting king/emperor penguin colors on a giant pliosaur may be a bit odd but hey they're both marine predatory reptiles (accept it, birds are cladistically reptiles) of cold southern seas (yes Eromanga was cold and parts of it even froze over seasonally).

Description
105 million years ago during the early Cretaceous period in the waters of the Eromanga Sea, which has now become the Toolebuc Formation of Queensland, Australia, the giant pliosaur Eiectus longmani/Kronosaurus queenslandicus gets some competition while it feeds on its kill, a long-necked plesiosaur Eromangasaurus australis. As the blood of the plesiosaur leaks into the water, it starts attracting other carnivores to scavenge, the largest being an 8-meter long cardabiodontid shark trying to take a bite out of the flipper while the pliosaur is still biting on the head of its kill.

Drawing made for Shark Awareness Day (July 14) and I guess an early Shark Week too. The unfortunately-named Eromanga Sea was an inland seaway that stretched across the center of Australia during the Cretaceous period, and while it existed it was home to various marine reptiles, fish and invertebrates. Perhaps the most well-known animal from this seaway was a 9 to 11-meter long marine reptile of the pliosaur order originally named Kronosaurus queenslandicus. However in 2021 a paper found that the holotype specimen of Kronosaurus was so fragmentary that the genus should be deemed dubious, and all other, more complete Australian material of the animal was moved to the new name Eiectus longmani (so like a Troodon-Stenonychosaurus case). Whatever you wanna call it, there's no doubting the giant Australian pliosaur was a top predator in the Eromanga, its sheer size, strong jaws and sharp teeth allowing it to kill and eat almost every other animal it lived alongside. In fact the fossil skull and neck of Eromangasaurus, a 9-meter elasmosaurid plesiosaur from the same area, shows bite marks matching the jaws of Kronosaurus/Eiectus, proving the pliosaur did indeed eat large prey.

Whilst the pliosaur was certainly a formidable predator, it may have had some competition from a large shark in the Eromanga. Paleontologist Mikael Siversson has mentioned in various parts of the internet (such as This video and this forum ) that fossil teeth and vertebrae of a large shark belonging in the extinct Cardabiodontidae family are known from the Toolebuc Formation, and the shark is also mentioned in this paper . Whilst this Toolebuc cardabiodontid is not yet described and has no scientific name yet, it is believed to be much larger than other known cardabiodonts like the 5.5-meter Cardabiodon ricki and Dwardius, growing over 8 and possibly reaching 9 meters in length, and individuals exceeding 6 meters would not be rare. Whilst nowhere near as big as an Otodus megalodon, the Toolebuc cardabiodontid would still be one of the largest Mesozoic sharks and likely capable of hunting marine reptiles like plesiosaurs and large turtles, possibly even rival or hunt the young of Kronosaurus/Eiectus.

Other animals are the 7-meter ichthyosaur Longirostria/Platypterygius australis (I elaborate more on what a taxonomic mess it is here ) in the background near the bottom right, and the many fish around the bottom are Pachyrhizodus marathonensis, a predatory ray-finned fish growing over 80 centimeters long, likely with an ecological niche comparable to mackerel (also first P. marathonensis on DA!).

Yes I realize putting king/emperor penguin colors on a giant pliosaur may be a bit odd but hey they're both marine predatory reptiles (accept it, birds are cladistically reptiles) of cold southern seas (yes Eromanga was cold and parts of it even froze over seasonally).