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Eurwentala — Deep-sea Ichthyosaur

Published: 2011-05-25 12:34:54 +0000 UTC; Views: 6032; Favourites: 151; Downloads: 14
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Description Shastasaurus pacificus, the suction-feeding ichthyosaur. According to a recent paper (here: [link] ), Shastasaurus was a short-snouted and toothless ichtyosaur that probably lived quite similar life to modern beaked whales. The writers hypothesized that it would dive deep and use it's good eyesight to find bioluminescent squids. So here it is: I just had to illustrate the idea.

A quick digital painting made in a few hours.
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Comments: 13

Pterosaur-Freak [2011-08-22 02:07:24 +0000 UTC]

Looks nice. The squid is amazing. Love the little Shastasaurus.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Eurwentala In reply to Pterosaur-Freak [2011-08-29 15:28:54 +0000 UTC]

Thanks!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

commander-salamander [2011-05-27 17:44:29 +0000 UTC]

Someone has been following love in the time of chasmosaurus

Nice! I have ear marked this species as one I would like to reconstruct soon myself (lol!) in the same line as my Ophthalmosaurus.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Boverisuchus [2011-05-26 09:12:51 +0000 UTC]

This is great I do wish the paper had a skeletal and skull reconstruction though :/

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Eurwentala In reply to Boverisuchus [2011-05-26 18:46:34 +0000 UTC]

Agreed. I've no idea if this is anatomically correct or not. The authors of the paper obviously had a complete skeleton and someone who can draw (since there were drawings of the skull as it was fossilized), so why not make a skeletal?

Well, I hope I was right to leave the dorsal fin off and the head is at least something like the right shape.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Boverisuchus In reply to Eurwentala [2011-05-27 06:07:41 +0000 UTC]

I think you did a great job

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Eurwentala In reply to Boverisuchus [2011-05-27 08:50:04 +0000 UTC]

Thanks.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Boverisuchus In reply to Eurwentala [2011-05-27 09:03:42 +0000 UTC]

Just remember, any criticism I give is constructive, I dont gripe at paleoartists, because frankly, they would maybe know more than myself.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Nesihonsu [2011-05-25 13:50:33 +0000 UTC]

How strange. Short faced one and because of that more dolphin like.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Eurwentala In reply to Nesihonsu [2011-05-25 14:46:22 +0000 UTC]

Not dolphin, but beaked whale. They do have quite short snouts and very few teeth.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Nesihonsu In reply to Eurwentala [2011-05-25 16:42:07 +0000 UTC]

Thanks for pointing this out. You're right! Actually I don't know much about beaked whales. Yet.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Eurwentala In reply to Nesihonsu [2011-05-27 08:49:36 +0000 UTC]

I didn't either, but read a bit about them when doing research for this painting. They do look pretty similar (though the Shastasaurus paper didn't provide a skeletal or even a reconstructed skull, which makes comparing and drawing a bit more difficult).

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Tomozaurus [2011-05-25 12:39:06 +0000 UTC]

Interesting animal, it looks so odd with no teeth.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0