#  The Fin is not Conjecture! Researchers Reveal Spinosaurus was Aquatic 

 





May 01, 2020

 

 

- [ News ](/news-categories/news)
 
 

 

 Stephanie Pierce and George Lauder teamed with University of Detroit paleontologist, Nizar Ibrahim, to decipher how *Spinosaurus aegyptiacus* would have used newly found tail vertebrae fossils.

 Ibrahim's team discovered *Spinosaurus* fossils in Morocco in 2014 that included tail vertebrae with meter-long spines that appeared to form a paddle. Ibrahim reached out to Pierce who worked with fish bio-mechanist, Lauder, to create a robotic model of the tail, complete with the top fin that would cover the meter-long bone spines.

 The study, published in *[Nature](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2190-3),* proves the *Spinosaurus*, one of the largest known carnivorous dinosaurs, was aquatic. Pierce and Lauder's robotic modeling shows a large, flexible tail fin that would have given the giant predator a deadly propulsive thrust in the water, similar to a salamander or crocodile tail. Combined with the dinosaur's center of gravity, the paper lays to rest the argument over whether *Spinosaurus* was aquatic. "The fin is not conjecture," said Pierce.  
 *[The New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/29/science/spinosaurus-dinosaur-tail-swimming.html?searchResultPosition=1), [Harvard Gazette](https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/04/new-paper-suggests-spinosaurus-may-have-been-aquatic/), [Newsweek](https://www.newsweek.com/spinosaurus-tail-fossil-discovery-paddle-jurassic-park-aegyptiacus-size-skeleton-aquatic-1501509), [National Geographic](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/04/first-spinosaurus-tail-found-confirms-dinosaur-was-swimming/), [Science News](https://www.sciencenews.org/article/spinosaurus-dinosaur-fossil-tail-aquatic-swimmer), [Discover Magazine](https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/rv-with-a-tail-like-an-eel-and-a-snout-like-a-crocodile-spinosaurus-became)*

#####  Image: Scientific illustration of *Spinosaurus* by Davide Bonadonna, illustrator



 

 

 



 

 See also:- [ Faculty News ](/news-type/faculty-news)
- [ 2020 ](/news-year/2020)