Includes index.

Sharks and dinosaurs--we find them both alien and awe-inspiring. This book is a plunge into the Cretaceous oceans of 80 million years ago, a merciless realm ruled by the most ferocious animals ever to stalk the seas of planet Earth. More terrifying than anything known to humankind, it scarcely seems possible that these swift, massive underwater predators actually existed--but they did. The book interweaves dramatic scenes of the far, far distant past; scientific profiles of nearly two dozen sea monsters; and a group portrait of the eccentric Sternberg family, Kansas-bred pioneers of marine paleontology. From giant sharks and fierce reptiles to the fossil-hunters who proved that today's land-locked Great Plains were once submerged, this book will forever change how we think about marine predators.--From publisher description.