Nov. 14, 2005 — Paleontologists in Argentina have uncovered the fossil remains of a new, huge species of crocodile that terrorized the oceans 135 million years ago, nicknamed Godzilla, Science magazine reported Friday.

Unlike present-day crocodiles, Dakosaurus andeniensis lived entirely under water and had fins instead of legs, said Ohio State University researcher Diego Pol, who determined that the creature was an ancestor of the crocodile.

Discovered at the southern tip of South America in 1996 by paleontologists Zulma Gasparini and Luis Spalletti of the University of La Plata, in Argentina, the three fossils were identified using an advanced computer program.

Besides its fins, the ancient crocodile had two other features: its size — it was four meters (13 feet) in length — and its head, similar in size to that of the Tyrannosaurus rex, the fiercest meat-eating dinosaur of all.

It's the size of the animal that makes it a "Godzilla," explained Pol, adding that contemporaries of Dakosaurus andenienis were smaller and more delicate, with long, skinny snouts and needle-like teeth for catching small fish and mollusks.

Godzilla, instead, had a short head, a jaw 47 centimeters (1.5 feet) long with interlocking serrated teeth up to 10.2 centimeters (four inches) long.

Pol said Godzilla was a fearsome predator even among the monstrous creatures that roamed the seas at its time and represented a remarkable jump in size, tooth and jaw shape in the sea crocodile's evolution.

One of the fossils was unearthed in Argentina's western Mendoza province, while the other two were found in southern Neuquen province.

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