General
The Ichthyovenator is an interesting dinosaur that was discovered fairly recently, though gained popularity among dinosaur fans through its unique dual sail on its back. While its sail is not as large as the famous Spinosaurus‘ sail, no doubt it is still quite impressive. It likely lived a sort of semiaquatic lifestyle like modern crocodiles, hunting fish and small prey that happened to come near the water. Its rather dense bones and powerful arms were definitely suited toward this occupation.
Characteristics
The Ichthyovenator is about the same shape and build as other famous spinosaurids like Baryonx and Oxalia, yet it’s distinctly unique in its sail. The odd dual sails along its back are among the only parts that have been fossilized and found so far. It also had a large thin paddle-like tail like modern crocodiles and robust arms unlike many therapods like T-Rex. Wether or not it had flamboyant colors in real life can not currently be known.
| Genus: | Ichthyovenator |
| Meaning: | “Fish Hunter” |
| Discovered: | Laos |
| Class: | Spinosaur |
| Size: | 10.5 Meters long, 2.6 Meters tall. |
| Paleo Rating: | 34/42 |
| References: | Info taken from: Ichthyovenator – Wikipedia Image from: Ichthyovenator laosensis by PaleoGeek – Ichthyovenator – Wikipedia– Wikipedia – PaleoGeek |
Did you know?
The Ichthyovenator is more closely related to Spinosaurus than Baryonx.
Interesting Facts
- The long paddle like tail would have helped it to swim in a way similar to modern crocodiles where they swish their tails side to side to propel them forward in water.
- The Ichthyovenator does not currently have any skull fossils discovered yet, so a realistic assumption of its skull was made based off of other closely related spinosaurs.
