The conservation of unusual ichthyosaur fossils is examined in a recent research published in PeerJ using current methodologies. To our knowledge, no other big group of ichthyosaurs has preserved its exterior body form as well as these 2 additional specimens: a full animal and only the tail.
Marine reptiles that thrived during the era of the dinosaurs were Ichthyosaurs. Known for possessing a fish-like form like dolphins, its remains may be discovered all over the globe.
Two ichthyosaur fossils from the Solnhofen region, which are around 150 million years old, have been described in a new peer-reviewed publication. The Bishops Seminar Eichstätt owns and operates the Jura-Museum, which houses the collection. Ichthyosaurs are full-body fossils that have both the internal structure of their bones and a detailed depiction of their surrounding connective tissue. An alternative would be to use a whole tail fin. Ichthyosaurs in this group shared the moon-shaped tail with their forebears, as shown by the surviving vertebrae of the tail as well as the connective tissue surrounding them.
Because it offers a whole tale, the specimen as a whole is what sets this effort apart. A shallow location with numerous islands at the time, Solnhofen was not the best place to find fossils of Ichthyosaurs, who were open-water creatures. This one infiltrated the lagoons for unknown reasons, although it is possible that this was the last straw for the creature. Due to the item being so clearly a whole, dead animal corpse, we can discern its form because of the remarkable preservation.
We already know that ichthyosaurs, like modern whales, possessed a layer of fat called blubber on their bodies. Until now, it was unclear whether or not this was true for certain ichthyosaur species. Whales and ichthyosaurs have a lot in common, including the form of their bodies and the thickness of their skin. Two ichthyosaurs from Solnhofen, Germany, might help us better comprehend swimming in the future since they maintain the tail and body structure of their prehistoric ancestors.
