Parotosuchus is an extinct genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of capitosauroid temnospondyl within the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Capitosauridae. It was a two-metre-long (6.5-feet) giant salamander

Salamander

Salamander is a common name of approximately 500 species of amphibians. They are typically characterized by a superficially lizard-like appearance, with their slender bodies, short noses, and long tails. All known fossils and extinct species fall under the order Caudata, while sometimes the extant...

-like predator that lived during the Early Triassic

Early Triassic

The Early Triassic is the first of three epochs of the Triassic period of the geologic timescale. It spans the time between 251 ± 0.4 Ma and 245 ± 1.5 Ma . Rocks from this epoch are collectively known as the Lower Triassic, which is a unit in chronostratigraphy...

 inhabiting lakes and rivers. Parotosuchus was covered in a scaly skin, unlike the smooth skin of modern-day amphibian

Amphibian

Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...

s, and probably moved with an eel

Eel

Eels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 20 families, 111 genera and approximately 800 species. Most eels are predators...

-like motion in the water.

Further reading

• Parotosuchus (Temnospondyli: Mastodonsauridae) from the Triassic of Antarctica. Christian A. Sidor, J. Sebastien Steyer and Ross Damiani, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology
  Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology
  The Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology was founded in 1980 at the University of Oklahoma by Dr. Jiri Zidek. It is a scientific journal that publishes original contributions on all aspects of the vertebrate paleontology, including vertebrate origins, evolution, functional morphology, taxonomy,...
  
  , 2007, 27(1):232–235