Overview

• The fossil represents the first soft tissue impression ever documented from a Temnodontosaurus flipper, preserving rare skin and cartilage details.
• Researchers identified novel serrated structures composed of cartilage embedded in skin, which they have named "chondroderms."
• Computer modelling of the flipper’s serrations and surface ridges demonstrated a noise reduction of as much as 10 decibels during swimming.
• Paired with the species’ record-sized eyes, the noise-dampening fin suggests Temnodontosaurus hunted quietly in low-light or deep-water environments.
• The study leveraged synchrotron X-ray microtomography, electron microscopy and computational fluid dynamics to link anatomical form with acoustic function.