ichthyosaur

[ ik-thee-uh-sawr ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

any fishlike marine reptile of the extinct order Ichthyosauria, ranging from 4 to 40 feet (1.2 to 12 meters) in length and having a round, tapering body, a large head, four paddlelike flippers, and a vertical caudal fin.

ichthyosaur

/ ˈɪkθɪəˌsɔː; ˌɪkθɪəˈsɔːrəs /

any extinct marine Mesozoic reptile of the order Ichthyosauria, which had a porpoise-like body with dorsal and tail fins and paddle-like limbs See also plesiosaur

ichthyosaur

/ ĭk′thē-ə-sôr′ /

Any of various extinct sea reptiles of the genus Ichthyosaurus and related genera, that had a medium-sized to large dolphin-like body with a dorsal fin, four flippers, and a large, crescent-shaped tail. The head had a long beak with sharp teeth, large eyes and earbones, and nostrils near the eyes on top of the skull. Ichthyosaurs were most common and diverse in the Triassic and Jurassic Periods and died out well before the end of the Cretaceous.

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First recorded in 1820–30; ichthyosaurus

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Motani was part of a team that examined the nearly complete skeleton of an adult ichthyosaur.

The researchers believe the ichthyosaur most likely hunted its meal.

In fact, this particular thalattosaur may have been such a big meal that the ichthyosaur died after eating it.

The ichthyosaur is thought to have been roughly seven times more massive than the whip-thin thalattosaur.

In fact, this particular thalattosaur may have been such a big meal that the ichthyosaur died after stomaching it.

Buckland, I think, once indulged in the jeu d'esprit of supposing an ichthyosaur lecturing on the human skull.

It cannot concern me individually, any more than what happens to-day concerns the extinct ichthyosaur or the megatherium.

In the popular mind, perhaps, the Ichthyosaur and Plesiosaur are the typical representatives of that extinct race.

One fossilised Ichthyosaur of the weaker-toothed variety has been found with the remains of two hundred Belemnites in its stomach.

Compared with the Ichthyosaur, it was what the giraffe is to the rhinoceros, or the swan to the porpoise.

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