Teleosaurus
Name:
Teleosaurus
(Complete lizard).
Phonetic: Tel-e-oh-sore-us.
Named By: �tienne Geoffroy - 1825.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Crocodylomorpha, Thalattosuchia, Teleosauridae.
Species: T. cadomensis (type),
T.
geoffroyi.
Diet: Piscivore.
Size: 3 meters long.
Known locations: England.
Time period: Mid Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Several specimens.
Teleosaurus
is commonly referred to as a prehistoric gharial (sometimes
gavial) because of its long but very thin jaws that are lined with
lots of small thin teeth. These jaws are perfect for snatching fish
from the water as their thin form experiences reduced resistance from
opening and closing while moving through the water, something which
increases the speed of which they can open. Additionally the
smaller teeth are great for seizing fish as their small points focus
the force of the jaw closing muscles into high pressure areas (kind
of how it’s easy to push a drawing pin into a pin board because the
force of your finger pushing is focused upon a tiny pint). Once
Teleosaurus had managed to catch a fish between its
jaws it probably
held it out of the water and tossed it around in its mouth until the
fish was in a position for it to be swallowed. This is because while
the teeth were well adapted for catching fish, they were not really
strong enough to pull it to pieces and with this in mind Teleosaurus
was probably restricted to eating smaller fish species that could be
swallowed.
The
streamlined body of Teleosaurus suggests that it
spent a lot of time in
the water actively pursuing fish. However this body was still not as
well developed as some marine crocodiles such as Metriorhynchus
and
Geosaurus
which also had tail flukes similar to that of a fish on the
end of their tails. This suggests that Teleosaurus
may have inhabited
coastal waters and spent some time out of the ocean, possibly even
around atolls and lagoons. Additionally this habitat would see marine
crocodiles like Teleosaurus better able to survive
in the face of
competition from other piscivorous marine reptiles such as ichthyosaurs
and plesiosaurs that were common during the Jurassic, but more suited
to life in the open ocean.
Further reading
- Handbuch der Petrefactenkunde, mit einer Einleitung �ber die Vorwelt
der organischen Wesen auf der Erde von Dr. Ludwig Choulant 1:1-115. -
F. Holl - 1829.
- Report on British fossil reptiles, part II. - Report of the British
Association for the Advancement of Science 11:60-204. - R. Owen - 1842.
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