This is what you might have seen about 160 million years ago if you looked out over the ocean. While dinosaurs dominated the land (sauropods stroll along the shore), large marine reptiles, like the ichthyosaur Opthalmosaurus, ruled the seas.

The ichthyosaurs chase down some squid while ammonites, extinct squid relatives, swim in the background (left).

Below are a fossil squid (Palaeololigo oblonga), ammonite (Pachydesmoceras colusaense), and ichthyosaur (Ichthyosaurus).

Jurassic marine scene © 2000 Karen Carr; Fossil squid by Benjamin Healley, © Museum Victoria, Australia; Fossil ammonite and ichthyosaur by Sarah Rieboldt, © UCMP.