Name:
Ichthyodectes.
Phonetic: Ik-fee-o-dek-tees.
Named By: Edward Drinker Cope - 1870.
Classification: Chordata, Actinopterygii,
Ichthyodectidae, Ichthyodectinae.
Species: I. ctenodon
(type), I. acanthicus, I. anaides, I.
arcuatus, I. elegans, I. goodeanus, I. libanicus, I.
minor, I. tenuidens.
Diet: Piscivore/Carnivore.
Size: Up to 4 meters long.
Known locations: Canada, Manitoba - Vermilion
River Formation, Saskatchewan - Ashville Formation. USA,
Alabama - Mooreville Chalk Formation, Texas - Eagle Ford
Formation, Wyoming - Pierre Shale Formation.
Time period: Cenomnanian through to the Campanian of
the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Many individuals.
Like with relative genera such as Gillicus and Xiphactinus, Ichthyodectes would have been a key predator in the waters of the Western Interior Seaway, the shallow sea that submerged the central portion of North America during the Cretaceous. Ichthyodectes had a long body similar to that of a modern day barracuda and was well adapted for efficient high speed cruising, as well as bursts of intense speed.
Further reading
- Another Sternberg “Fish-within-a-Fish” Discovery: First
Report of Ichthyodectes ctenodon (Teleostei;
Ichthyodectiformes)
with Stomach Contents. - Transactions of the Kansas Academy of
Science 113(3 & 4):197-205. - Michael J.
Everhart, Scott A. Hageman & Brian L. Hoffman -
2010.