What is Californosaurus?
{{italictitle}} {{Taxobox | color = lightblue | name = ''Californosaurus'' | fossil_range = [[Upper Triassic]], 216&ndash;218 mya | image = Californosaurus_BW.jpg | image_width = 250px | image_caption = ''Californosaurus perrini'' | regnum = [[Animal]]ia | phylum = [[Chordate|Chordata]] | classis = [[Reptile|Sauropsida]] | subclassis = ?[[Diapsid]]a | ordo = [[Ichthyosaur|Ichthyopterygia]] | subordo = | familia = [[Shastasauridae]] | genus = '''''Californosaurus''''' | genus_authority = Kuhn, 1934 }} '''''Californosaurus''''' was an [[ichthyosaur]], an [[extinct]] [[Ocean|marine]] [[reptile]]. It was 10 feet (3 m) long. It had four paddle-shaped [[flipper]]s and sharp [[teeth]] in long, pointed jaws (looking a bit like a [[dolphin]]). ''Californosaurus'' lived during the late [[Triassic]] period in seas that covered what is now [[California]]. It fed on fish and other small marine creatures. Like other ichthyosaurs it probably never came onto dry land, and gave birth in the water. It is the most [[basal]] known true ichthyosaur, shaped more or less like a dolphin. The long-snouted head is small in comparison with the rest of the body, as in [[basal]] ichthyosaurs such as ''[[Mixosaurus]]'' and ''[[Cymbospondylus]]''. The tail is sharply turned downwards, in common with more [[advanced]] ichthyosaurs, with a small vertical fluke. It may have had a small dorsal [[fin]]. [[Category:Ichthyosaurs]]