Skip to main content

Main navigation

  • Our Museums
    • Visit our Museums
      • WA Museum Boola Bardip
      • WA Maritime Museum
      • WA Shipwrecks Museum
      • Museum of Geraldton
      • Museum of the Goldfields
      • Museum of the Great Southern
  • What's on
    • What's on at our Museums
      • WA Museum Boola Bardip
      • WA Maritime Museum
      • WA Shipwrecks Museum
      • Museum of Geraldton
      • Museum of the Goldfields
      • Museum of the Great Southern
    • For members
      • Members save!
    • School holidays
      • School holiday events
  • News
  • Collections
    • Research areas
      • Anthropology and Archaeology
      • Aquatic Zoology
      • Earth & Planetary Sciences
      • History
      • Maritime Archaeology
      • Maritime History
      • Materials Conservation
      • Molecular Systematics Unit
      • Terrestrial Zoology
    • Collections and research resources
      • Online Collections
      • Online Datasets
      • Records and Supplements
      • Research Projects
      • Shipwreck Databases
      • WA Museum Library
    • External resources
      • Collections WA
      • Culture WA
      • Tetangga Exhibition
      • WAnderland
  • Learn
    • Education programs
      • WA Museum Boola Bardip
      • WA Maritime Museum
      • WA Shipwrecks Museum
      • Museum of Geraldton
      • Museum of the Goldfields
      • Museum of the Great Southern
    • Resources
      • Apps
      • Blogs
      • Field guides
      • Online exhibitions
      • Podcasts
      • Videos
  • About
    • Contact us
      • Contact the WA Museum
    • About the Museum
      • Background and Mission
      • Trustees & Advisory Committees
      • Reconciliation Action Plan
      • Corporate Documents
      • Media
      • Jobs
    • Partnerships
      • National Anzac Centre
      • Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company
  • Get involved
    • Membership
      • Become a member
    • Stay Connected
      • WA Museum on Facebook
      • WA Museum on Instagram
      • WA Museum on Twitter
      • WA Maritime Museum on Facebook
    • Support
      • Foundation for the WA Museum
      • Our Partners and Donors [external]
      • Volunteer
  • Shop
    • Shop online
      • Visit the WA Museum Online Store
    • Membership and tickets gift voucher
      • Buy a WA Museum Gift Voucher
WA Maritime Museum

Museum Menu

  • Visit
    Visit
    • Plan a visit
    • Exhibitions
      • 40th Anniversary of Australia II America’s Cup Victory
      • Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Ocean Predators
      • HMAS Ovens
    An underwater illustration of a huge sea monster preying on a shark
    Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Ocean Predators
    America's Cup replica with Australia II
    40th Anniversary of Australia II America’s Cup Victory
  • Education
    Education
    • Education programs
    • Planning an excursion
    • Professional learning
    • Self-guided excursions
    Seated children in school uniform look inside an old-fashioned suitcase
    Education programs
    Person looking at artefacts
    Self-guided excursions
  • Tours & events
    Tours & events
    • School holidays
    • Under the Dome: Cinema Experience
    • Premium experiences
    • View all tours & events
    Two men look up at suspended yacht, pointing upward
    Highlights Tour
    Image of WAM Junior Palaeontologist Amelie framed inside shark jaws.
    School holidays
  • Membership
    Membership
    • Become a member
    • Membership renewal
    • Members save!
    A pink banner with images of people experiencing the Museum
    Become a member
  • Volunteer
    Volunteer
    • Volunteer with us
    A mature female volunteer wearing a WA Museum tee shirt is looking through some aquatic zoology specimens with a young girl. The volunteer is holding a pearlescent shell, which the girl is examining with an interested expression.
    Volunteer with us
  • Venue hire
    Venue hire
    • Venue hire
    • Download Venue Hire Brochures
    A close-up photograph of a banquet table decorated with white flowers and tall white candles
    Venue hire
An underwater illustration of a huge sea monster preying on a shark
WA Maritime Museum

Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Ocean Predators

Location

WA Maritime Museum
Victoria Quay Road, Fremantle

Dates

Saturday 1 April – Sunday 16 July 2023

Tickets

Standard | $15
Concession | $12.50
Junior (5 – 15) | $12.50
Junior (0 – 4) | Free
Family | $50

 

Education

Information for education groups.

Book now

Seriously scary - not for the faint-hearted!

Millions of years ago, while dinosaurs ruled the land, giant reptiles more than 20 metres long hunted the depths of the sea – and they’re coming back to life at WA Maritime Museum.

Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Ocean Predators brings together real fossils from millions of years ago, gigantic life-sized casts from actual specimens, including a 13-metre long Elasmosaurus and nine-metre Prognathodon, immersive multimedia, and hands-on interactives to raise from the dead these ancient monsters of the deep.

The exhibition features over 70 exhibits and includes a huge 1.4-metre Kronosaurus jaw. There is also an incredible ichthyosaur specimen giving birth and a five-metre-long fish that died after swallowing another fish whole.

About the exhibition

Seriously scary sea monster facts
  1. Marine reptiles originally evolved on land and then went back to the sea.
  2. The biggest marine reptile was the 24-metre Shonisaurus, a type of ichthyosaur.
  3. Australia’s top plesiosaur predator, the Kronosaurus, had a bite force of 3 tonnes – more than a saltwater crocodile.
  4. The mosasaur Prognathodon’s head was so heavy; if it had lived on land, it couldn’t have lifted it.
  5. The first sea monster fossils were discovered about 50 years before we found any dinosaurs – we’ve known about them for around 250 years.
  6. Sea monsters ruled the oceans for over 180 million years (modern humans have only been around for about 300,000 years).
  7. Some ichthyosaurs could swim at speeds of 40 kilometres per hour.
  8. Some Australian sea monster fossils have become stunning and valuable opals.
  9. We can learn about what sea monsters ate by looking at their fossilised poo, called coprolites.
  10. The plesiosaur Albertonectes had 72 neck bones – more than any other animal. We have only seven.
About some prominent sea monsters

Dolichorhynchops

  • Lived 80-90 million years ago 
  • Name means “long snout” 
  • Approximately the size of a dolphin 
  • Fast swimmer that fed on fish and squid 
  • Had no external ears, making it possibly deaf to airborne sounds 

Tylosaurus 

  • Lived 73-80 million years ago 
  • One of the largest mosasaurs 
  • Among the largest and most ferocious predators of any era 
  • Grew to between 35 and 45 feet long 
  • Eyes were as big as grapefruit 
  • Had four rows of sharp, cone-shaped teeth to seize and crush prey, and could swallow prey whole 

Styxosaurus

  • Lived 80-85 million years ago 
  • A member of the plesiosaurs 
  • Its neck was 20 feet long — up to half its body length 
  • Each of its flippers was the size of an adult human 
  • Swallowed hundreds of small rocks to help grind up meals 

Xiphactinus 

  • Lived 70-95 million years ago 
  • Largest bony fish of Late Cretaceous, reaching 20 feet long 
  • Nicknamed the “bulldog” fish because of upwards thrust of jaw 
  • Able to swallow prey up to half its length 
  • Often fed on a 6-foot fish called a Gillicus

Cretoxyrhina 

  • Lived 82-95 million years ago 
  • Largest of the Late Cretaceous sharks, reaching 22-24 feet long 
  • Cretoxyrhinateeth have been found in Tylosaurusremains, clues that these two predators may have encountered each other 
  • Sharks outlasted extinction of all marine reptiles, except sea turtles 
  • Was similar in size and role to the modern great white shark

Hesperonis 

  • Lived 65-89 million years ago 
  • Large flightless bird that swam in the ocean 
  • Swam and fed much like modern penguins 
  • Grew as big as 5-6 feet long from beak to foot 
  • Had teeth in its beak to help with holding prey
Accessibility
Accessibility

This event is wheelchair accessible.

50% visual content rating – Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Ocean Predators has both sound and visual components.

50% aural content rating – Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Ocean Predators has sound components.

If you have any questions about access, please get in touch with us via reception@museum.wa.gov.au or on (08) 9021 8533.

 

 

An Australian National Maritime Museum touring exhibition in partnership with Queensland Museum Network

Logos for WA Maritime Museum and Australian National Maritime Museum

In partnership with

Queensland Museum Network and Queensland Government logos

Special exhibition events

Image of WAM Junior Palaeontologist Amelie framed inside shark jaws.
Saturday 8 April – Sunday 23 April 2023

Saturday 8 April – Sunday 23 April | 10am – 2pm

WA Maritime Museum

Monster Mania

We are going mad for marine monsters at the Maritime Museum during April!
Fossils and skeletons in light of a torch beam
Tuesday 11 April 2023
Thursday 13 April 2023
Tuesday 18 April 2023
Tuesday 4 July 2023
Thursday 6 July 2023
Thursday 13 July 2023

Tuesday 11 April | 5.30pm and 5.45pm
Thursday 13 April | 5.30pm and 5.45pm
Tuesday 18 April | 5.30pm and 5.45pm
Tuesday 4 July | 5.30pm and 5.45pm
Thursday 6 July | 5.30pm and 5.45pm
Thursday 13 July | 5.30pm and 5.45pm

Arrive 15mins before session time for registration

WA Maritime Museum

Sea Monsters: Torchlight Expedition

As the sun begins to set, and the lights go off, the creatures of the deep come to life in a special tour of Sea Monsters by torchlight.

Sea Monsters skeleton
Sunday 16 April 2023
Sunday 7 May 2023
Sunday 11 June 2023
Sunday 9 July 2023

Sunday 16 April | 2pm – 3pm
Saturday 7 May | 2pm – 3pm
Sunday 11 June | 2pm – 3pm
Sunday 9 July | 2pm – 3pm

WA Maritime Museum

Sunday Seminars: Sea Monsters and beyond

Explore the world of the massive marine predators of the ancient seas, and how modern science understands these links to the past.

Image for Drawing Sea Monsters workshop with artist Aśka, showing artist framed with illustrated tentacles.
Monday 17 April 2023
Thursday 13 July 2023

Monday 17 April | 9.30am – 12pm
Friday 14 July | 9.30am – 12pm
Drop and leave program 

WA Maritime Museum

Drawing Monsters

Explore the rich tradition of sea monsters to inspire your own artistic creation.

A scientist opened a set of draws revealing some interesting objects
Tuesday 18 April 2023
Thursday 20 April 2023
Tuesday 11 July 2023
Thursday 13 July 2023

Tuesday 18 April | 11am – 1pm
Thursday 20 April | 11am – 1pm
Tuesday 11 July | 11am – 1pm
Thursday 13 July | 11am – 1pm

WA Maritime Museum

Meet the Scientist

Join scientists from WA Museum and beyond to answer your best science questions.
a crafted snow dome with a sea theme
Wednesday 19 April 2023
Thursday 20 April 2023
Wednesday 19 April 2023
Thursday 20 April 2023
Wednesday 19 April 2023
Thursday 20 April 2023
Monday 10 July 2023
Tuesday 11 July 2023
Monday 10 July 2023
Tuesday 11 July 2023
Monday 10 July 2023
Tuesday 11 July 2023
Monday 10 July 2023
Tuesday 11 July 2023

Wednesday 19 April | 10am, 11am, 12pm
Thursday 20 April | 10am, 11am, 12pm
Monday 10 July | 10am, 11am, 12pm
Tuesday 11 July | 10am, 11am, 12pm

WA Maritime Museum

Sea Monster Snowdomes

Inspire your inner mad-scientist, and get creative with modelling clay.

Animated movie poster of a young boy in water. bottom half in water is a fish tail. The boy has two other children either side. One is also part in water with a fish tail
Thursday 20 April 2023
Friday 14 July 2023

Thursday 20 April | 4pm - 8pm
Friday 14 July | 4pm - 8pm

WA Maritime Museum

Sea Monsters After Dark - Luca (2021)

Luca and his friend have an unforgettable summer filled with gelato, pasta and endless scooter rides with a secret that they are sea monsters from another world just below the water’s surface!

Godzilla
Friday 12 May 2023

Friday 12 May I 7pm - 11.30pm

WA Maritime Museum

Sea Monsters After Dark: Godzilla (2014)

GODZILLA is a powerful story of human courage and reconciliation in the face of titanic forces of nature - when the awe-inspiring creature rises to restore balance as humanity stands defenseless.

The Western Australian Museum acknowledges and respects the Traditional Owners of their ancestral lands, waters and skies.

Footer menu

  • Western Australian Museum family
  • Accessibility
  • Contact us
  • Copyright
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy
  • wa.gov.au
  • Ticketing terms and conditions

COVID-19 UPDATE

At the Western Australian Museum, the health and safety of our visitors, volunteers and employees is our priority.

We have a COVID-19 Safety Plan in place and we are following Government advice.

We have increased the scope of our cleaning regime, and we have hand sanitiser available for visitors.

We ask that all visitors practice physical distancing where possible and good hygiene. If feeling unwell, particularly if experiencing a fever, cough, sore throat or shortness of breath, please visit on another day.

For more information visit the WA Government website.

All content copyright Government of Western Australia, All rights reserved.

Footer Submenu

  • Sitemap
WA Maritime Museum

Museum Menu

  • Visit
    Visit
    • Plan a visit
    • Exhibitions
      • 40th Anniversary of Australia II America’s Cup Victory
      • Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Ocean Predators
      • HMAS Ovens
    An underwater illustration of a huge sea monster preying on a shark
    Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Ocean Predators
    America's Cup replica with Australia II
    40th Anniversary of Australia II America’s Cup Victory
  • Education
    Education
    • Education programs
    • Planning an excursion
    • Professional learning
    • Self-guided excursions
    Seated children in school uniform look inside an old-fashioned suitcase
    Education programs
    Person looking at artefacts
    Self-guided excursions
  • Tours & events
    Tours & events
    • School holidays
    • Under the Dome: Cinema Experience
    • Premium experiences
    • View all tours & events
    Two men look up at suspended yacht, pointing upward
    Highlights Tour
    Image of WAM Junior Palaeontologist Amelie framed inside shark jaws.
    School holidays
  • Membership
    Membership
    • Become a member
    • Membership renewal
    • Members save!
    A pink banner with images of people experiencing the Museum
    Become a member
  • Volunteer
    Volunteer
    • Volunteer with us
    A mature female volunteer wearing a WA Museum tee shirt is looking through some aquatic zoology specimens with a young girl. The volunteer is holding a pearlescent shell, which the girl is examining with an interested expression.
    Volunteer with us
  • Venue hire
    Venue hire
    • Venue hire
    • Download Venue Hire Brochures
    A close-up photograph of a banquet table decorated with white flowers and tall white candles
    Venue hire

Corporate menu

  • Western Australian Museum
  • Our Locations
  • Background
  • Collections
  • Online Store
  • Membership
    • Members only
  • What's On
    • School Holidays

We recognise and respect the Traditional Owners of this Country and their connection to the lands, waters and skies.

WA Maritime Museum

Corporate menu

  • Western Australian Museum
  • Our Locations
  • Background
  • Collections
  • Online Store
  • Membership
    • Members only
  • What's On
    • School Holidays