Rockport Texas - The History, Legends & Lore 1st Printing | Page 10

Archelon or Giant Sea Turtle (sp. Archelon ischyros) Another old Rockport native, and this one weighed around 5000 lbs. Fossil records have shown that various Sea Turtles of all sizes roamed the Cretaceous Interior Sea for millions of years. LORE: Current DNA evidence has shown that turtles are more closely related to birds than lizards or snakes. GREAT HAMMERHEAD SHARK (sp. Sphyrna mokarran) They can grow 20 feet long and weigh a 1000 lbs. and live for 30 years. The notable feature of the Hammerhead is, of course, its hammer-head. This allows their eyes to be further apart than any other shark, giving them a wider visual range, and allowing them to better comb the ocian floor. They also have a specialized sensory organ called ampullae of Lorenzini, which allows them to detect, among other things, the electrical fields created by prey animals. 9