Re: Pterorhynchus dewlap

[Colin McHenry <cmchenry@westserv.net.au>]

It's only a single annecdotal peice of data, but the one time I saw a 
lionfish in the wild it was drifting around in the current and looked 
like nothing so much as a broken-off tuft of coralline aglae (such as 
might make a lovely shelter for a small fish.....)

I have no idea if this is a typical behaviour for them, or if my 
interpretation in any way resembles what was going on.


Tim Williams wrote:

> Jaime Headden wrote:
>
> >   I think this is counterintuitive, however, as such animals as most 
> > pterosaurs
> > don't seem the kind to gently glide around coal reefs in tropical 
> > waters,
>
>
> Ah!  You obviously haven't read Klaus Ebel's work...
>
> Ebel, K. (1996).  On the origin of flight in _Archaeopteryx_ and in 
> pterosaurs. N. Jb. Geol. Paläont. Abh. 202: 269-285.
>
> He argues that many pterosaurs spent their entire lives underwater.
>
> Then again, Ebel also argues that all saurischian dinosaurs lived in 
> water - sauropods, tyrannosaurs, dromaeosaurs, the entire shebang.  
> http://www.ebel-k.de/dinosaurs1/dinosaurs2/dinosaurs2.html


Ebel's work aside (it's been discussed before on the list, as far as I 
recall), I wonder if any pterosaurs could submerge (partially or 
completely) for brief periods?

Cheers
Colin