ichthyosaur
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- noun
- /ˈɪkθiəˌsɔr/
- Specialized
- Fossils of the ichthyosaur show that these ancient creatures had distinctive dolphin-like bodies.
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Watch on YouTubeThey don't chase it the way that dolphins do or ichthyosaurs did.
- They don't chase it the way that dolphins do or ichthyosaurs did.
Examples
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Ichthyosaurs may look and work like fish, but they are reptiles by ancestry.
Academic text (1990) -
And here we have the wonderful skull of an ichthyosaur which would have been about four metres long.
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"People see something -- like the baby ichthyosaur over there -- and they gasp.
Academic text (1998) -
Unable to get out of the water to lay their eggs like other reptiles, Ichthyosaurs gave birth in the water.
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There are also some very large Ichthyosaurs, some measuring up to 75 feet long and weighing 50 tons!
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Ichthyosaurs were giant marine reptiles that looked like dolphins.
Academic text (2012) -
Many Ichthyosaur fossils have been found at Holzmaden with their bones intact and even with the imprint of their skin on the rock, which helped us to know the position of their fins.
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The ichthyosaur was a remarkable marine reptile that swam in the oceans during the Mesozoic era.
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Scientists are excited to study the ichthyosaur because it provides insights into prehistoric marine life.
Synonyms
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A sea reptile with a fish-like body that lived in the Jurassic
An extinct sea reptile that lived during the Jurassic period
A large extinct sea reptile that looked like a dolphin
Surface Forms
Morphology
ichthyosaur = ichthyo + saur
The components 'ichthyo' (fish) and 'saur' (lizard) are not standalone English words, and the meaning is not directly derivable from these parts without specialized knowledge.
Etymology
The word ichthyosaur comes from Greek parts ichthys 'fish' and sauros 'lizard', and is like the word dinosaur that also uses sauros. So an ichthyosaur is a 'fish-lizard', which fits its fish-like shape and life in the sea.