Fossil of the Day: The Marine Reptile that Really Sucked

AAAAAAAGH! The ferocious-looking yet herbivorous Atopodenatus unicus...or at least a kiddie clay rendering of its peculiar jawbone, which researchers created to understand how something so crazy actually worked. Credit: Olivier Rieppel, The Field Museum. Hear the word "hammerhead" and you probably think of sharks in the family Sphyrnidae, or perhaps the locals that were less than welcoming to Riddick and other delicious humans in Pitch Black. You probably do not think of a Triassic marine reptile that bears an uncanny resemblance to an old Hoover upright.