Ichthyosaurs were air-breathing, warm-blooded, and bore live young. They may have had a layer of blubber for insulation.

Did ichthyosaurs breathe underwater?

In fact, from their streamlined, fishlike bodies, it seems almost certain that ichthyosaurs could not leave the water. Yet they still breathed air and lacked gills, like modern whales. Ichthyosaurs were not dinosaurs, but represent a separate group of marine vertebrates. ... The first ichthyosaurs appeared in the Triassic.

How did dinosaurs breathe underwater?

For the first time, we have solid bone evidence for this kind of a lifestyle among dinosaurs.” Spinosaurus had a nostril on the back of its head. That made it possible for the creature to breathe when part of its head was under water. Its long neck and short, powerful back legs helped it swim.

How did ichthyosaurs give birth?

The ichthyosaur mother died with three young: one outside the mother, one half-emerged headfirst from her pelvis and one still inside, waiting to be born.

How are ichthyosaurs different from dolphins?

Although they superficially have a similar shape and they exploit similar environmental niches, we know that ichthyosaurs are reptiles and thus they are not dolphins (mammals) nor sharks (fish). ... Although fish come in all shapes and sizes and ichthyosaurs are often specifically compared with sharks.

Ichthyosaurs 101 | National Geographic

28 related questions found

Why did ichthyosaurs go extinct?

Ichthyosaurs – shark-like marine reptiles from the time of dinosaurs – were driven to extinction by intense climate change and their own failure to evolve quickly enough, according to new research by an international team of scientists.

Why do ichthyosaurs look like dolphins?

Gradually sharks, ichthyosaurs, and dolphins came to look alike because natural selection favored one particular shape over all others for rapid movement through the seas. Figure legend: Convergent Evolution. Although very different species, the dolphin and the icthyasaur look alike.

Did ichthyosaurs lay eggs on land?

It's not just the age of the Mesozoic-era discovery that is surprising; it's the shattering of the belief that ichthyosaurs—also dubbed sea monsters—gave birth in water, not on land. ... The babies of most marine animals, such as whales and sea cows, are born tail-first.

What is the only marine reptile known to give live birth?

Living Marine Reptiles

The true sea snakes are the only lineage that almost never leaves the water—they even give live birth in water (Rasmussen 2001).

Do ichthyosaurs give live birth?

Fossil Shows Triassic-Era Sea Creature Gave Birth On Land : The Two-Way A fossil of an ichthyosaur that lived 250 million years ago indicates it gave live birth headfirst, like land mammals and not tail-first like whales and dolphins.

Is the biggest meat eating dinosaur?

Spinosaurus (means Spine Lizard) was the largest meat eating dinosaur, even bigger than the T-Rex.

Is a Spinosaurus taller than a T Rex?

rex . There is a new king of the dinosaurs in town. ... As long as a school bus and as heavy as an elephant, the Spinosaurus was the largest predatory (animal-eating) dinosaur to have existed — even bigger than Tyrannosaurus rex.

Did aquatic dinosaurs breathe air?

Plesiosaurs breathed air, and bore live young; there are indications that they were warm-blooded. Plesiosaurs showed two main morphological types. Some species, with the "plesiosauromorph" build, had (sometimes extremely) long necks and small heads; these were relatively slow and caught small sea animals.

Did pterosaurs have teeth?

Despite their formidable size, the pterosaurs in the Azhdarchidae family had no teeth. ... Fossil records show that pterosaurs were likely the first airborne vertebrates and they took to the skies around 220 million years ago.

Did Dolphins evolve from ichthyosaurs?

During the Early Triassic epoch, ichthyosaurs evolved from a group of unidentified land reptiles that returned to the sea, in a development similar to how the mammalian land-dwelling ancestors of modern-day dolphins and whales returned to the sea millions of years later, which they gradually came to resemble in a case ...

Why do plesiosaurs have long necks?

"A steady neck would be more hydrodynamic than a bent neck, and due to the pressure on a bent neck, plesiosaurs would probably only bend them when moving at slow speeds or when floating,' says Ms Troelsen. ... Several possible theories suggest that plesiosaurs may have developed long necks to extend their feeding range.

How do marine reptiles breathe?

Reptiles are also ectothermic, meaning they cannot self-regulate their body temperatures and instead rely on the external environment. ... All reptiles breathe air with lungs. The last key feature of reptiles is their bodies are covered by either scales or scutes.

How do reptiles breathe?

Unlike amphibians, reptiles breathe only through their lungs and have dry, scaly skin that prevents them from drying out. Amphibians and reptiles are together called herpetofauna, or “herps” for short.

Are marine reptiles extinct?

After the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period, marine reptiles were less numerous, but there was still a high variety of species in the early Cenozoic, such as "true" sea turtles, bothremydids, palaeophiid snakes, a few choristoderes such as Simoedosaurus and dyrosaurid crocodylomorphs.

Did Archaeopteryx have feathers?

Archaeopteryx feathers, although less documented than its other features, were very similar in structure to modern-day bird feathers. ... Unlike modern birds, Archaeopteryx had small teeth, as well as a long bony tail, features which Archaeopteryx shared with other dinosaurs of the time.

How long did ichthyosaurs rule the oceans?

The downfall of the ichthyosaurs cleared the way for another group of marine reptiles, called mosasaurs, to spread throughout the oceans. They ruled the seas for about 20 million years.

Has there ever been an animal bigger than a blue whale?

The spiral Siphonophore spotted by the team of scientists aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute's Falkor research vessel has been estimated to be 150-feet-long, which is an approximate 50 feet longer than a blue whale - widely held to be the largest animal to have ever existed.

How do ichthyosaurs swim?

The swimming modes of ichthyosaurs are thought to range from anguilliform in the earliest forms, to carangiform/thunniform in the most derived ichthyosaurs [7]. Jurassic and younger ichthyosaurs typically show a demarcated tailbend, indicative of a crescent tail fin [21,30].

What did the ichthyosaurs eat?

Beside squid-like creatures, ichthyosaurs ate fish and other marine organisms. In short, many fish-shaped ichthyosaurs were squid eaters, as in some whales today.

Why is ichthyosaur a reptile?

Whilst dinosaurs were walking the land, ichthyosaurs (meaning fish-lizard) were swimming in the sea. They are marine reptiles that evolved streamlined, fish-like bodies for fast swimming.