Halisaurus
Encyclopedia
Halisaurus is an extinct genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of marine lizard belonging to the mosasaur
Mosasaur
Mosasaurs are large extinct marine lizards. The first fossil remains were discovered in a limestone quarry at Maastricht on the Meuse in 1764...

 family. With a length of 3–4 m (10–13 ft), it was small compared to most other mosasaurs. It was named by Othniel Charles Marsh
Othniel Charles Marsh
Othniel Charles Marsh was an American paleontologist. Marsh was one of the preeminent scientists in the field; the discovery or description of dozens of news species and theories on the origins of birds are among his legacies.Born into a modest family, Marsh was able to afford higher education...

 in 1869, but renamed Baptosaurus by Marsh in 1870, who thought the name was already in use (preoccupied) by a fish named Halosaurus
Halosaurus
Halosaurus is a genus of fish in the family Halosauridae. This genus currently contains the following recognized specis:* Halosaurus attenuatus Garman, 1899* Halosaurus carinicauda...

. According to modern rules, a difference of a letter is enough and the substitute name is unneeded.

In popular culture

Halisaurus had a brief cameo in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 program Sea Monsters, a spin-off to the critically acclaimed Walking with Dinosaurs
Walking with Dinosaurs
Walking with Dinosaurs is a six-part documentary television miniseries that was produced by BBC, narrated by Kenneth Branagh, and first aired in the United Kingdom, in 1999. The series was subsequently aired in North America on the Discovery Channel in 2000, with Branagh's voice replaced with that...

. The program suggested that Halisaurus would hide in underwater caves waiting to attack small animals (i.e.Hesperornis
Hesperornis
Hesperornis is a genus of flightless aquatic birds that spanned the first half of the Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous period . One of the lesser-known discoveries of the paleontologist O. C. Marsh in the late 19th century Bone Wars, it was an important early find in the history of avian...

).
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