"Ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs had a much longer history than mosasaurs and appear to have been scaleless. It is possible that a smooth skin was much better adapted for a life in the ocean than was one with scales because it offered less resistance in the water, or because it provided fewer opportunities for the attachment of parasites. Mosasaurs, on the other hand, were covered with small scales, the shape and arrangement of which resembled those of modern monitor lizards."
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Original Language: English
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Sources
Michael J. Everhart, Oceans of Kansas (Indiana University Press, 2005), p. 178
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mosasauria
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Mosasauria
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