Restoration of Cymbospondylus
Cymbospondylus was a large but early variety of Ichthyosaur that lived during the Middle to Late Triassic Period. This ichthyosaur would have been one of the larger ichthyosaurs of the Triassic period and possibly one of the largest k own ichthyosaurs. It shares a similar body shape to Thalattoarchon in that it had no dorsal fin and its tail was long and sort of like a thresher shark's but reversed, but it still had an elongated snout like other ichthyisaurs. This body shape indicates that is spent a good portion of its life in shallow water or around the bottom of whatever body of water is was swimming in.
Its tail allowed it to cruise along at a reasonable pace unlike the ichthyosaurs in the future. This tail however would have allowed it to use its tail to accelerate into massive bursts of speed which would perfect for an ambush hunter since it could would be swimming along with fish surrounding it then all of a sudden it would use its tail to accelerate and grab a large fish without giving the fish any time to notice or escape. This ichthyosaur would have also been a predator of larger prey like smaller sea reptiles or possibly even dinosaurs that had fallen into the sea.
Description[]
It grew to 33 ft (10 meters) long.
The 1-meter-long head of it had rows of teeth that made it capable of catching Ammonites.
Discovery[]
The first fossils of Cymbospondylus were found in the Germanic Basin southern alps and Nevada, and it was named by Joseph Leidy in 1868.
In December 23, 2021, the fossil skull of Cymbospondylus youngorum was found in Nevada.
In popular culture[]
- A hostile Cymbospondylus named Cretaceous was one of the main antagonists in Ice Age: The Meltdown. In reality, Cymbospondylus had fins and stayed in the water unlike in the movie which can be on land and had fresh water crocodilian-like legs. Also Cymbospondlyus had no dorsal fins.
- It appeared in the documentary Chased by Sea Monsters were it attacks Nigel Marven.
Cretaceous is a Cymbospondylus
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