Thrissops

Thrissops
Temporal range: Late Jurassic–Late Cretaceous
Thrissops formosus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Superorder: Osteoglossomorpha
Order: †Ichthyodectiformes
Family: †Ichthyodectidae
Genus: †Thrissops
Agassiz, 1833

Thrissops is an extinct genus of teleost fish from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Its fossils are known from the Solnhofen limestone,[1] as well as the Kimmeridge clay.

Thrissops subovatus

Thrissops were fast predatory fish about 60 centimetres (24 in) long, that fed on other bony fish.[2] They had a streamlined body with a deeply cleft tail and only very small pelvic fins. Thrissops was related to the giant Xiphactinus and may have been an ancestor of the modern Osteoglossiformes, the most primitive group of living teleosts, which includes the arapaima.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Solnhofen und seine Fossilien: Thrissops Archived 2010-04-29 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ Orvar Nybelin, "Versuch einer taxonomischen revision der jurassischen Fischgattung Thrissops Agassiz", Nature (1964)
  3. ↑ Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 39. ISBN 1-84028-152-9.


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