Placodus
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Extinct (fossil)
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Placodus was a genus of 2 metre (6.5 foot) long marine reptiles, belonging to the order Placodontia, which swam in the shallow seas of the early to middle Triassic period. The robust skull and teeth of Placodus show that they were specialized for a durophagous diet of shellfish such as bivalves. These animals would have plucked their hard-shelled benthic invertebrate prey from the substrate with protruding front teeth, and once in their mouths, crushed them with their back teeth.
Placodus and its relatives were not as well-adapted to aquatic life as some later reptile groups, like the closely related plesiosaurs. Their flattened tails and short legs, which probably ended in webbed feet, would have been their main means of propulsion in the water. Equipped with dense bones, heavy belly ribs, and a row of bony knobs above the backbone, Placodus were heavily built and negatively buoyant creatures that would have had no trouble staying on the seafloor to feed. This body "armour" offered protection from predators as well, but would have also hampered mobility on land, making Placodus slow and clumsy out of water.
Fossils of Placodus have been found in Europe (the Alps).
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