Paleontologists discovered the fat on the body of the fish lizard 180 million years ago

Narrow-winged lizard - Stenopterygius lived 189 to 175 million years ago, early Jurassic, when people looked at their restorative images, people would mistakenly think that this is a dolphin because they have a shape similarly, like slender snout, rounded body, triangular dorsal fin, followed by well developed, caudal fin.

Although similar in appearance, the fish lizard belongs to the reptile and the dolphin belongs to the mammal, and they look like the result of evolutionary convergence.

Prehistoric Stenopterygius fish lizards lived throughout Western Europe, but the most sought after fossils were in Holzmaden, Germany.

Because of the discovery of fossils of marine life, we know that during the Jurassic period, millions of years ago, Holzmaden, located in southern Germany today, turned out to be an ocean. Tropic.

The fossils of narrow-winged lizard fish discovered in Holzmaden are famous for their delicate beauty, which not only preserves the complete skeleton but also traces of soft tissue, allowing us to see the outline of the fin. dorsal and caudal fins. The conservation of soft tissues plays an important role in more accurately restoring the appearance of this fish lizard.

In addition to preserving the soft tissue structure of narrow-winged lizard fish, the fossil also revealed the mystery of its reproduction. Paleontologists found the remains of a narrow narrow winged lizard in the body of the mother Stenopterygius. Initially, the researchers thought that the adult Stenopterygius would be inclined to eat small Stenopterygius so fossil samples often detect traces of the inner juveniles, but we do not know if it will. True or not until the fossil sample was discovered. As it turns out, the narrow-winged lizard fish and the whole lizard family are born from the ovule, which is a manifestation of their high adaptation to marine life.

Johan Lindgren, a paleontologist at Lund University in Sweden, is an expert at studying marine reptiles in Mesozoic. He found that in many fossilized fish lizard species, there is always a space between the bones and the epidermis outside the muscles, which exist in large areas of soft tissue.

With the advancement of technology, especially the ability to test the composition of specific chemicals in fossils, Lindgren decided to study a fish lizard fossil that still preserves the soft tissue structure to find So what is that gap?

Lindgren decided to go to the Urwelt-Museum Hauff Museum in Holzmaden, where there are many complete fossils of fish lizards. After searching through the fossils in the museum, he decided to choose fossil samples of the fish lizard code MH 432. As soon as the news came out, 23 scientists from around the world Lindgren's decision to join the research team. They want to learn the secrets of fish lizard fossils.

In fossil research, paleontologists found that there was subcutaneous tissue in the skin's residue, which was a layer of yellow fat. To further confirm, paleontologists compared subcutaneous tissue with today's dolphins and skin turtles and found that the structure was the same, suggesting that narrow-winged lizard fish have fat layers. The function of the grease layer is to retain heat, store energy and increase buoyancy. This "fat" layer from 180 million years ago proves that the narrow-winged lizard fish is a hot-blooded animal like the whales in the ocean today!

Although the shape of the Stenopterygius has been restored to a very precise level from before, their colors so far have been entirely speculative. Stenopterygius's fossils study not only found subcutaneous fat, but also melanocytes, which allowed scientists to determine their outer color.

Studies have shown that the body color distribution of narrow-winged lizards is similar to today's marine life, with darker dorsal and lighter pigmented abdominals. This body color distribution is not only convenient for hiding the body but also helps them to adjust body temperature more easily.