# life: the 'built-in float' of an ancient marine predator

<< About 240 million years ago, when reptiles ruled the ocean, a small lizard-like predator floated near the bottom of the edges in shallow water, picking off prey with fang-like teeth. >>

<< Our analysis of two well-preserved skeletons reveals a reptile with a broad, pachyostotic body (denser boned) and a very short, flattened tail. A long tail can be used to flick through the water, generating thrust, but the new species we've identified was probably better suited to hanging out near the bottom in shallow sea, using its short, flattened tail for balance, like an underwater float, allowing it to preserve energy while searching for prey, >> Qing-Hua Shang.

<< Perhaps this small, slow-swimming marine reptile had to be vigilante for large predators as it floated in the shallows, as well as being a predator itself, >> Xiao-Chun Wu.

Taylor & Francis. Ancient marine predator had a built-in float. Oct 28, 2020. 

https://phys.org/news/2020-10-ancient-marine-predator-built-in.html

Qing-Hua Shang, Xiao-Chun Wu, Chun Li. A New Ladinian Nothosauroid (Sauropterygia) from Fuyuan, Yunnan Province, China. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. doi: 10.1080/ 02724634.2020.1789651. Oct 29, 2020.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/02724634.2020.1789651