page_title: Placodont
hierarchical_section_title: Placodont
caption_attribution_description: English: fossil placodont
context_page_description: Placodonts were a group of Triassic marine reptiles which had heavy flat teeth. These teeth were used for crushing shellfish. Placodonts are in the Order Sauropterygia, the group that includes Plesiosaurs. Placodonts were mostly between 1 to 2 metres in length, up to a maximum 3 metres long. They are found in marine sediments of the Middle and Upper Triassic, 235–250 million years ago.
  The first specimen was discovered in 1830, and the group was very widely distributed. Shellfish were common throughout the Mesozoic period, but this group of shellfish-eaters went extinct at the end of the Triassic. They were clearly a victim of some event which disturbed their lifestyle. The end-Triassic had several extinction events which are not well understood.
context_section_description: Placodonts were a group of Triassic marine reptiles which had heavy flat teeth. These teeth were used for crushing shellfish. Placodonts are in the Order Sauropterygia, the group that includes Plesiosaurs. Placodonts were mostly between 1 to 2 metres (3 to 7 ft) in length, up to a maximum 3 metres (10 ft) long. They are found in marine sediments of the Middle and Upper Triassic, 235–250 million years ago.
  The first specimen was discovered in 1830, and the group was very widely distributed. Shellfish were common throughout the Mesozoic period, but this group of shellfish-eaters went extinct at the end of the Triassic. They were clearly a victim of some event which disturbed their lifestyle. The end-Triassic had several extinction events which are not well understood.
caption: Fossil of Cyamodus shows the overall shape of the animal
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.", "Image Model": "FE340,X855,C560", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Version 1.0", "Image DateTime": "2009:06:25 15:56:06", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "996", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 37, 0, 1, 0, 20, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "9204", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5853", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/10", "EXIF FNumber": "7/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:06:25 15:56:06", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:06:25 15:56:06", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "181/50", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "63/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2560", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1920", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1714", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}