Dino card No. 0851 of 2,015

Ichthyosaurus

Say it: ik-thee-oh-SORE-us

Name means: “fish lizard”1

Ate: MeatIchthyosaursLate Triassic to Early CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Ichthyosaurus was a fast-swimming marine reptile that looked like a dolphin but was not a dinosaur. It lived in the oceans during the time of the dinosaurs and hunted fish and squid with its long, toothy snout.1

Fun fact: this sea reptile swam while dinosaurs walked on land. Everyone calls them dinos, but they were a different branch of reptiles.

Lived

227 to 100 million years ago3

Late Triassic to Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

England, Germany, France, Belgium, Chile, and the United States3

Food

Meat1

Length

2 to 3.5 m1

scientists think most adults were about this size

Weight

80 kg to 200 kg1

Artist's life restoration of Ichthyosaurus — How Ichthyosaurus may have looked, by Nobu Tamura email:nobu.tamura@yahoo.com http://spinops.blogspot.com/. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Scientists still argue about colours and details.

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

Ichthyosaurus could not suck in its prey like some fish. It had to bite and grab food with its teeth.1

It was a pursuit predator, meaning it chased after its food by swimming very fast.1

Ichthyosaurus gave birth to live young, not eggs, because it lived entirely in the water.2

Its eyes were large and it relied on sight to hunt, possibly also using its sense of smell.1

Fossils of Ichthyosaurus have been found in rocks that are between 227 and 100 million years old.3

The name Ichthyosaurus means 'fish lizard', but it was a reptile, not a fish.1

Myth buster

Myth: Ichthyosaurus was a dinosaur.

Truth: Ichthyosaurus was a marine reptile, not a dinosaur. Dinosaurs lived on land, while ichthyosaurs swam in the sea.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Ichthyosaurus
Named by: Koenig 18183
Group: Ichthyosaurs
Family / clade: Ichthyosauridae3
Classification: Ichthyosauria > Ichthyosauromorpha3
Age of the rocks: 227 to 100 million years (Norian to Albian)3
Rock formations: Blue Lias, White Lias, Alum Shale3
Countries: United Kingdom, France, Chile, USA, Germany, Belgium3
Fossil records: 101 in the Paleobiology Database3
Also known as: Eurypterygius, Gryphus (older names now counted as the same animal)3
Discovery: Ichthyosaurus was named by the scientist Charles Koenig in 1818, based on fossils found in England.3
Still debated: Scientists still debate exactly how many species of Ichthyosaurus existed, because many fossils are incomplete.2

Where the facts come from

Ichthyosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Ichthyosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@dinowiki.app and we will fix it.