Eurhinodelphis

Name: Eurhinodelphis ‭(‬Well-nosed dolphin‭)‬.
Phonetic: Yu-rye-npe-del-fiss.
Named By: B.‭ ‬Du Bus‭ ‬-‭ ‬1867.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Mammalia,‭ ‬Cetacea,‭ ‬Odontoceti,‭ ‬Eurhinodelphinidae.
Species: E.‭ ‬cocheuteuxi‭ (‬type‭)‬,‭ ‬E,‭ ‬longirostris.
Diet: Piscivore/Carnivore.
Size: 2‭ ‬meters long.
Known locations: Worldwide in oceans across the Northern hemisphere.
Time period: Miocene.
Fossil representation: Multiple specimens.

       Sometimes confused with the similarly named ichthyosaur Eurhinosaurus,‭ ‬Eurhinodelphis was a Miocene era cetacean that resembled a long snouted dolphin.‭ ‬Another similarity to dolphins is the asymmetrical brain which means one side was different than the other.‭ ‬Additionally Eurhinodelphis had extremely well developed hearing and is considered to have possibly hunted by echolocation.‭
       The long jaws,‭ ‬particularly the upper which extends beyond the lower has been interpreted as being the main prey killing adaptation.‭ ‬Like with sword fish,‭ ‬palaeontologists think that Eurhinodelphis would have swum into a shoal of fish and thrashed its long snout about to inflict injuries upon the fish.‭ ‬Once injured the fish could not swim and move with the rest of the shoal and became easy prey.

Further reading
- Sur quelques mammiferes du crag d'Anvers. - Bulletins de L'Academie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts 24:562-577 - B. Du Bus - 1867.
- Systematic revision of the Miocene long-snouted dolphin Eurhinodelphis longirostris Du Bus, 1872. - Bulletin de l'Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique, Sciences de la Terre 74:147-174 - O. Lambert - 2004.

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