Collection: Ancient Aquarium

 ANCIENT AQUARIUM

The oceans of our planet were formed long before humans, dinosaurs and even life itself existed: around 3.8 billion years ago. Life began appearing on Earth around 3.77 billion years ago and they have evolved in Earth's oceans throughout the course of billions of years. The world's oceans have foreseen the evolution of life in a myriad of shapes and forms throughout the Phanerozoic eon, and despite the various mass extinctions that occur, the struggle for survival continues there.

Ancient Aquarium, acrylic on canvas, 2021. Set of 9, each piece 8" X 8" 

Orthocones

Giant Orthocone, acrylic on canvas, 2021

Orthocones are a group of cephalopods (a family which also includes squid and cuttlefish) which are known for their straight shells, a characteristic where the family name came from. Orthocones lived from the late Cambrian to the late Triassic (509 to 201 million years ago), but were very common during the early Paleozoic era, especially in the Ordovician and Silurian periods. They range in size from pencil-sized Orthoceras to giants such as Cameroceras, which grew to the length of a truck. The seas of the Ordovician were also populated by crinoids, a relative of the starfish, and various species of primitive, jawless fish. Fish have already appeared on Earth since the early Cambrian.

Dunkleosteus

Dunkleosteus in habitat, acrylic on canvas, 2021

Dunkleosteus is a large, predatory armored fish which lived in the late Devonian period, around 360 million years ago. It can be identified for its head which is covered in bony plates. The jaws of Dunkleosteus do not possess teeth, but what appears to be a set of teeth on its jaws are actually sharpened extensions of the bony plates on its head. Dunkleosteus is a placoderm, which is a family of armored fish which are very commonly found in the Devonian period. Placoderms, such as Bothriolepis (above the Dunkleosteus in the painting) were covered in bony plates on the head and thorax. The Devonian also saw the earliest stage in the evolution of sharks. The primitive shark Stethacanthus (name meaning "chest spine", bottom right) is unusual among other sharks for its unusually-shaped dorsal fin, which resembled an ironing board, and the sandpaper-like patches of enlarged dermal denticles (tooth-like structures which makes a shark's skin as rough as sandpaper when rubbed) on its head and dorsal fin. The variety of fish in the Devonian oceans had led to its nickname, the "Age of Fish".

Triassic Marine Reptiles

Triassic Ocean, acrylic on canvas, 2021

The Mesozoic era marked a new era in ocean life as the Earth recovers from the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, which wiped out more than 90% of all life on Earth. The first period in the Mesozoic, the Triassic, witnessed reptiles which have evolved on the land take back to the oceans to fill missing ecological roles which were left empty at the wake of the mass extinction. In the Triassic, some reptiles evolved to fit into an amphibious lifestyle, such as Nothosaurus (name meaning "false lizard", lower left), a lizard-like fish-eating reptile, Henodus (name meaning "single tooth", bottom left) a turtle-like member of the placodont family, and Tanystropheus (name meaning "long hinge", bottom right), a primitive, long-necked reptile. Besides, some of these reptiles have evolved to become fully aquatic, and their bodies transformed into fish-like shapes. This family of reptiles are called the ichthyosaurs, or "fish reptiles". Primitive ichthyosaurs such as Mixosaurus (name meaning "mixed lizard", top right) evolved these bodies to hunt for fish at high speeds. The large ichthyosaur in the painting is Shastasaurus, one of the largest marine reptiles that has ever existed. Measuring up to 21 meters in length, Shastasaurus was the size of a large whale and had a toothless snout which may have suggested the animal to have a diet of squid. Ichthyosaurs had evolved to fill in a wide spectrum of ecological roles in the oceans, and also helped revolutionize the survival of marine life by creating roles in the oceans that had not existed before.

Jurassic Marine Reptiles

Predator Xtreme, acrylic on canvas, 2021

While dinosaurs rose to become the dominant reptiles on land in the Jurassic, reptiles had also become the new overlords of the oceans in the same period. The aftermath of the Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction saw the emergence of new reptile groups populating the oceans. Ichthyosaurs continued to patrol the seas till the middle Cretaceous, and had already adopted more distinct fish-like features. The ichthyosaur in the bottom right painting is Temnodontosaurus (name meaning "cutting tooth lizard"). The individual shown is giving birth to live young underwater like modern dolphins do, as the evolution of this method of reproduction among marine reptiles had reduced them the need to get back on land to lay eggs. The Plesiosauria is another popular group of Mesozoic marine reptiles which took various roles in the marine theater. There are two families of plesiosaurs: the long-necked plesiosaurids and the short-necked pliosaurs. In the Jurassic, pliosaurs became the apex predators in the ocean, feeding on large prey such as sharks and other marine reptiles. They were equipped with powerful flippers, large jaws lined with conical teeth and possibly a sharp sense of smell. Pliosaurus (name meaning "above lizard") is one of the best-known members in the family, and there are various species. The largest species of Pliosaurus, discovered in the Arctic regions, was nicknamed "Predator X". Meanwhile, another group of reptiles had also adopted a fully marine lifestyle in the Jurassic: the crocodilians. Marine crocodiles such as Metriorhynchus (name meaning "moderate snout", top left) had evolved flippers and fins to enable them to burst at tremendous speeds when chasing fish.

Elasmosaurus

Elasmosaurus in habitat, acrylic on canvas, 2021

The last period in the Mesozoic, the Cretaceous, saw yet another burst of diversification in ocean life and marine reptile domination. The period saw a decline of the ichthyosaur family before their gradual disappearance from the fossil record in the middle Cretaceous. However, plesiosaurs continue to be the dominant family of marine reptiles, and the long-necked plesiosaurids also diversified in number. One of the largest in the family was Elasmosaurus (name meaning "plated lizard"), with a length of 14 meters. The long neck of Elasmosaurus had 72 vertebrae. It hunted small fish and invertebrates. The Cretaceous also saw the rise of a new group of reptilian marine predators, the mosasaurs, which are cousins to today's lizards and snakes. They started out small, like the 4m-long Platecarpus (top left). The shelled cephalopod in the painting is Baculites, a member of the ammonite family. Unlike most ammonites with their spiral shells, Baculites had a shell similar to that of the unrelated orthocones but bent slightly.

Tylosaurus

Tylosaurus, acrylic on canvas, 2021

Near the end of the Cretaceous, the mosasaur family grew to gigantic proportions and had became the new alpha predators in the ocean, replacing the large pliosaurs which disappeared along with the ichthyosaurs in the middle Cretaceous. Tylosaurus (name meaning "knob lizard") is a large mosasaur which swam in where it is now North America during the late Cretaceous. It fed on large fish, sharks, turtles, giant squid and other marine reptiles, including smaller mosasaurs. The Cretaceous oceans were also home to fish which came in a variety of shapes. The large-finned fish all over the painting are Bananogmius, ancient relatives of angelfish known for their large dorsal fins. The larger fish are Gillicus, a species of filter-feeding fish from the Cretaceous. The shark in the center of the painting is Cretoxyrhina. Also at that time, birds had also began to evolve an aquatic lifestyle, as their wings became smaller, rendering them unable to fly. One of the best-known Cretaceous aquatic birds is Hesperornis (name meaning "western bird", bottom left), which had evolved powerful hind limbs to propel themselves underwater unlike modern penguins which use their wings as flippers. The beak of Hesperornis contains a set of needle-like teeth to enable it to catch slippery fish.

Archelon

Archelon, acrylic on canvas, 2021

Archelon (name meaning "ruling turtle") is a species of giant sea turtle which lived in the late Cretaceous period. It was the largest sea turtle ever to be discovered, measuring 4 meters in length from nose to tail. It was once thought to be the ancestor of the modern leatherback turtle due to the leathery shell, but Archelon and its extinct family, the Protostegidae, was a completely distinct family of sea turtles which was one of the first families of sea turtles to evolve. Archelon had a hooked beak and powerful jaws which were adapted to eating hard-shelled crustaceans (such as the lobster Jagtia, bottom left) and mollusks. The squid-like cephalopods on the top left are belemnites, which existed throughout the Mesozoic era. Belemnites resemble modern squids but had an internal shell that made up the cone. The end-Cretaceous mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs on land also put an end to the reign of the large marine reptiles in the oceans. However, sea turtles lived on to become today's most dominant marine reptiles.

Ancient Whales

Ancient Whales, acrylic on canvas, 2021

The disappearance of the large marine reptiles such as the mosasaurs and plesiosaurs in the end of the Cretaceous had left the ecological role wide open for yet another group which evolved on land, the mammals, to take over as the masters of the Cenozoic seas. Whales evolved from a group of hoofed mammals which lived on land and began evolving an aquatic lifestyle. One of the first in the family to have transitioned to salt water was Rodhocetus (center), which still had four legs to paddle and swim underwater. As the early Cenozoic progressed, the hind legs of these whale ancestors shrunk and their tails grew flukes. Modern whales would eventually lose these vestigial hind limbs altogether. In the Eocene, a family of whales, the Archaeoceti ("ancient whales"), were the ruling predators in the ocean and still had a pair of small hind limbs. The largest in this family was Basilosaurus (meaning "emperor lizard"), which grew to a length of 18 meters, four times the size of a great white shark. Basilosaurus lived in the oceans in where it is now North America and Egypt. This ancient whale fed on large fish, sharks and other marine mammals including smaller whales such as Dorudon (name meaning "spear tooth", bottom). Dorudon is a cousin of the Basilosaurus and resembles today's dolphins. The global cooling of the environment at the end of the Eocene redirected the evolution of whales, but archaeocetes including Basilosaurus and Dorudon were wiped out by the climate change.

Megalodon

Hunting Megalodon, acrylic on canvas, 2021

Megalodon (Otodus megalodon) is a massive predatory shark which terrorized the oceans during the Miocene and Pliocene periods, and one of the largest sharks that has ever lived, measuring about 20 meters in length. It was once thought to be the ancestor of the modern great white shark based on studies of the large shark's teeth. This apex predator preyed on marine mammals such as whales and dolphins. Whales at the time were not as large as they were today. The whale at the bottom left is Cetotherium (meaning "whale beast"), which lived in the oceans until about 10 million years ago, in the Miocene. The dolphin-like creature in the bottom right is Squalodon (meaning "shark-tooth"), an ancestral dolphin whose closest living relative is the South Asian river dolphin. Although Megalodon is well-adapted to hunting large prey, it fell victim to the coming of the Ice Age. As whales evolved blubber to adapt to the cooling climate, Megalodon, being only able to survive in tropical climates, eventually lost its primary source of prey and became extinct.