Saurichthys
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| This article does not cite any references or sources. (August 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
| This article is orphaned as few or no other articles link to it. Please help introduce links in articles on related topics. (August 2007) |
| Saurichthys Fossil range: Early to Mid Triassic |
||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Saurichthys seefeldensis attacking Preondactylus
|
||||||||||
| Conservation status | ||||||||||
|
Fossil
|
||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||
|
Saurichthys ('lizard fish') is an extinct genus of ray-finned fish from the Triassic period. Species averaged about one meter (3 ft 4 in) long.
Saurichthys was an elongated creature similar to the modern pike. 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 pterosaurs such as Preondactylus.
Their closest modern-day relatives include the sturgeons, paddlefish, and the bowfins.

