Dinosaurs & Prehistory - Prehistoric marine predators - Shastasaurus - Ichthyosaurs - Marine reptiles - Triassic
What unusual feature distinguished Shastasaurus from many other ichthyosaurs?
Correct!
Shastasaurus was an ichthyosaur from the Triassic and therefore an extinct marine reptile. Many ichthyosaurs had long snouts with numerous cone-shaped teeth. In Shastasaurus, however, the skull was unusual: a detailed examination described a comparatively small head, a very shortened snout and a complete lack of teeth. Shastasaurus liangae is particularly impressive: In this form, the head was extremely small in relation to the body. It also had an exceptionally large number of vertebrae - 86 vertebrae in front of the sacrum and more than 110 caudal vertebrae have been described. In 2011, researchers suspected that Shastasaurus may have absorbed its food by sucking, similar to some modern whales, based on its toothless, shortened mouth. However, this interpretation was questioned by a biomechanical study in 2013. The authors concluded that the known ichthyosaurs probably did not have the necessary anatomical adaptations for true suction snapping. That's why the greatly shortened, toothless snout is a more reliable quiz answer than a reliable statement about suction snapping.
Shastasaurus was notable for its very shortened, toothless snout. Whether this anatomy actually enabled genuine suction snapping was later critically questioned.
