Stenopterygius | Facts & Information

Stenopterygius species belongs to the category of ichthyosaurs and lived in the Mesozoic era, during the Lower Jurassic Period, about 185-170 million years ago. By body conformation it is very similar to a modern dolphin, but by The Shape of the dorsal fin it reminded of the image of a shark.

The muzzle was sharp, on the edges it had many sharp and slightly curved teeth, all with very deep roots. It is suspected that with the passage of years the teeth curved harder and fall out.

Fossil remains of this aquatic animal were discovered in Germany in 1856, and based on them in 1904 paleontologist Otto Jaekel made a description of this species and named it Stenopterygius quadriscissus. The name comes from the Greek words” stenos” (narrow) and "Pteryx" (wing).

The researchers estimated the length of an adult specimen at 3 m and weight at 70 kg. They also concluded that Stenopterygius had a very rigid skeleton, was an advanced ichthyosaur species.

Stenopterygius was an excellent swimmer, very fast and this is due primarily to its anterior and posterior swimmers, but also to the dorsal and caudal forked swimmers. He had his nostrils positioned close to his orbits, so he only had to raise his head slightly above the water to breathe. He also had his eyes protected by bone rings.

During the breeding season these fish-dinosaurs did not lay eggs on land like other species, the females gave birth to live chicks in the water.

Each chick was born with its tail forward, through an orifice that also appears in reptiles and is called the cloaca. Immediately after birth, the cub had a few seconds to swim to the surface of the water to breathe, then after its lungs filled with air it swam back into the depths and hid among the corals to fend off the carnivorous marine reptiles that lived in the seas of those times.

Food

His favorite food consisted of fish, belemnites, cephalopods and other sea creatures.