Thrissops
Temporal range: Late Jurassic–Late Cretaceous
Thrissops formosus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: †Ichthyodectiformes
Genus: †Thrissops
Agassiz, 1833

Thrissops (from Greek: θρῐ́ξ thrix, 'hair' and Greek: ὄψις ópsis 'look')[1] is an extinct genus of stem-teleost fish from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Its fossils are known from the Solnhofen Limestone,[2] as well as the Kimmeridge Clay.

Thrissops was a fast predatory fish about 60 centimetres (24 in) long, that fed on other bony fish.[3] It had a streamlined body with a deeply cleft tail and only very small pelvic fins. Thrissops was one of the smaller members of the order Ichthyodectiformes, which also included giants like Xiphactinus and Saurodon.[4]

References

  1. ^ Roberts, George (1839). An etymological and explanatory dictionary of the terms and language of geology. London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longmans. p. 171. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
  2. ^ Solnhofen und seine Fossilien: Thrissops Archived 2010-04-29 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Orvar Nybelin, "Versuch einer taxonomischen revision der jurassischen Fischgattung Thrissops Agassiz", Nature (1964)
  4. ^ 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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