Name:
Placodus (Greek for "flat tooth"); pronounced PLACK-oh-dus
Habitat:
Shores of Europe
Historical Period:
Middle to late Triassic (230-205 million years ago)
Size and Weight:
About 6 feet long; weight unknown
Diet:
Shellfish and crustaceans
Distinguishing Characteristics:
Flat, forward-pointing teeth; five-toed hands and feet
About Placodus:
Unusually for a creature that lived over 200 million years ago, we know exactly what Placodus ate. This aquatic reptile's flat, outward-pointing teeth were clearly adapted for scraping shelled mollusks and crustaceans off the ocean floor, at which point the tasty meal would be ground to bits against its equally large back teeth.
Oddly enough, Placodus doesn't seem particularly adapted to an aquatic lifestyle: its relatively squat, thick body appears unhydrodynamic, and its small hands and feet couldn't have propelled it very quickly through the water. It's possible, though, that this lack of adaptations was what helped it to float above the seabed, where the food was.
