If you’ve been combing through the archaeological record and found a startling lack of terrifying gigantic frogs that look like video game enemies, boy, do I have a horrifying monster to show you. It’s called the Gerrothorax maritimus, and a team of researchers found its remains in present-day China, dating back nearly 237 million years.
According to a study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, this three-foot-long, disc-shaped monster is officially the first fully marine amphibian ever discovered in the fossil record. Today, over 8,000 amphibian species exist, and every single one avoids fully embracing saltwater life.
Modern frogs and salamanders breathe through their skin, and saltwater instantly dehydrates them through osmosis. That’s why covering toads in salt and watching them dive was a beloved activity by that weird boy who lived down the street.
A Giant Frog-Like Monster Once Lived at the Bottom of the Ocean
G. maritimus was covered in thick, bony armor plates. Scientists from UC Davis and Peking University believe this mighty shielding kept saltwater from ruining its skin while serving as body armor against 10-foot-long hunting ichthyosaurs. To breathe and process salt without dying, it relied on internal gills and a specialized gut, allowing it to comfortably reside in the deep ocean, miles away from land.
Researchers found its skeletons so well preserved that even its tiny prehistoric fingers were still attached. All told, the bones indicate that this was a rather lazy creature that was quite literally a bottom feeder; its method of catching food was no more complicated than parking its gigantic armored body on the seafloor, opening its huge mouth and just sucking in whatever idiot animal swam into its mouth.
Strontium isotope tests on its bones confirmed the creature spent its entire life thriving at sea. It eventually went extinct, but its existence is proof that there was once a frog so big that if you saw it today, you’d swear you could see a life bar above its head.
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