Saurichthys
Encyclopedia
Saurichthys is an extinct genus of ray-finned fish from the Triassic
period. Fossils have been found worldwide.
Saurichthys was an elongated, streamlined, fish about 1 metres (3.3 ft) long, and looked similar to the modern pike. Its dorsal
and anal fins were placed opposite each other wll back on the body, and the tail was symmetrical. These features would have made it a powerful swimmer, and it is presumed to have hunted in a similar way to the pike, attacking from an ambush at high speed. Its jaws were extremely long, making up a third of the total body length, and ended in a sharp, beak
-like tip.
Fossil evidence, in the form of a bolus of bones in the same strata, indicates that Saurichthys attacked, or possibly scavenged the corpses of fishing pterosaur
s such as Preondactylus
.
Their closest modern-day relatives include the sturgeon
s, paddlefish
, and the bowfin
s.
Triassic
The Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...
period. Fossils have been found worldwide.
Dorsal fin
A dorsal fin is a fin located on the backs of various unrelated marine and freshwater vertebrates, including most fishes, marine mammals , and the ichthyosaurs...
and anal fins were placed opposite each other wll back on the body, and the tail was symmetrical. These features would have made it a powerful swimmer, and it is presumed to have hunted in a similar way to the pike, attacking from an ambush at high speed. Its jaws were extremely long, making up a third of the total body length, and ended in a sharp, beak
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
-like tip.
Fossil evidence, in the form of a bolus of bones in the same strata, indicates that Saurichthys attacked, or possibly scavenged the corpses of fishing pterosaur
Pterosaur
Pterosaurs were flying reptiles of the clade or order Pterosauria. They existed from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous Period . Pterosaurs are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight...
s such as Preondactylus
Preondactylus
Preondactylus is a genus of long-tailed pterosaur from the Late Triassic that inhabited what is now Italy. It was discovered by Nando Buffarini in 1982 near Udine in the Preone valley of the Italian Alps.-Anatomy:...
.
Their closest modern-day relatives include the sturgeon
Sturgeon
Sturgeon is the common name used for some 26 species of fish in the family Acipenseridae, including the genera Acipenser, Huso, Scaphirhynchus and Pseudoscaphirhynchus. The term includes over 20 species commonly referred to as sturgeon and several closely related species that have distinct common...
s, paddlefish
Paddlefish
Paddlefish are primitive Chondrostean ray-finned fishes. The paddlefish can be distinguished by its large mouth and its elongated, spatula-like snout, called a rostrum, which is longer than the rest of the head...
, and the bowfin
Bowfin
The Bowfin, Amia calva, is the last surviving member of the order Amiiformes , and of the family Amiidae...
s.