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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cleon" data-source="post: 5819185" data-attributes="member: 57383">Well, we might as well keep it simple.A broad-bodied reptile resembling a cross between a turtle and a marine iguana. It has no shell, but its heavy body is armoured with small bony plates. A long, flattened tail and short legs with webbed feet suggest it's faster in the water than on land. Placodonts are primitive marine reptiles that specialize in eating shellfish, which they crush with the broad, flat teeth in their mouths. They are slow-moving creatures with poor natural armaments, so rely on size, armor or stealth to protect them from predators. Placodonts live in shallow tropical waters, where they do not have to dive deep to find food and big predators are unlikely to venture due to the risk of them being beached on a shoal. The various species of placodont range between 3 feet and 10 feet in size (nose to tail). The typical example detailed above is about 3 or 4 feet long with a weight from 10 to 30 pounds. Placodonts tend to be small, and few species grow larger than a human. A placodont's shape and weight varies a lot - some species have  lizard-like bodies, others are as broad as turtles, but most are  somewhere in-between. I'm wondering about cutting out the weight, since many marine animals don't have it and it's a difficult thing to estimate.</blockquote>