Thrissops

{{Short description|Extinct genus of ray-finned fishes}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Kimmeridgian|Tithonian}}

| image = Thrissops cf formosus 01.jpg

| image_caption = Thrissops formosus

| taxon = Thrissops

| authority = Agassiz, 1833

}}

Thrissops (from {{langx|el|θρῐ́ξ}} {{Transliteration|el|thrix}}, 'hair' and {{langx|el|ὄψις}} {{Transliteration|el|ópsis}} 'look'){{cite book |last1=Roberts |first1=George |title=An etymological and explanatory dictionary of the terms and language of geology |date=1839 |publisher=Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longmans |location=London |page=171 |url=https://archive.org/details/anetymologicala00robegoog |access-date=31 December 2021 |language=English}} is an extinct genus of stem-teleost fish from the Jurassic period (Kimmeridgian to Tithonian).{{Cite journal |last1=Cavin |first1=Lionel |last2=Piuz |first2=André |last3=Ferrante |first3=Christophe |last4=Guinot |first4=Guillaume |date=2021-06-03 |title=Giant Mesozoic coelacanths (Osteichthyes, Actinistia) reveal high body size disparity decoupled from taxic diversity |journal=Scientific Reports |language=en |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=11812 |bibcode=2021NatSR..1111812C |doi=10.1038/s41598-021-90962-5 |issn=2045-2322 |pmc=8175595 |pmid=34083600}} Its fossils are known from the Solnhofen Limestone,[http://www.solnfoss.de/thrissops.htm Solnhofen und seine Fossilien: Thrissops] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100429003017/http://www.solnfoss.de/thrissops.htm |date=2010-04-29 }} as well as the Kimmeridge Clay.

Thrissops was a fast predatory fish about {{convert|60|cm|in}} long, that fed on other bony fish.Orvar Nybelin, "Versuch einer taxonomischen revision der jurassischen Fischgattung Thrissops Agassiz", Nature (1964) It had a streamlined body with a deeply cleft tail and only very small pelvic fins. Thrissops was one of the smaller members of the order Ichthyodectiformes, which also included larger representatives like Xiphactinus and Saurodon.{{cite book |editor=Palmer, D.|year=1999 |title= The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals|publisher= Marshall Editions|location=London|page= 39|isbn= 1-84028-152-9}}