More Suchomimus thoughts..

["Patrick Norton" <ptnorton@email.msn.com>]

<The modern Arapaima which also needs to surface for air and inhabits fairly
shallow water reaches at least 8ft in length,and a similar fish would
provide a substantial meal even for a reptile the size of Suchomimus.>

If Sereno et al are correct that the "robust forelimbs" of Suchomimus
evolved before the elongated snout and other possible fish eating
adaptations, it seems a bit backwards to be attempting to explain the
forelimbs as adaptations to a piscivourous diet. But if you go down that
road and explain the huge arms as necessary for capturing huge fish, you
face the problem that its relatively long neck and long narrow snout seem
ill-suited for holding or wrestling with large struggling prey, fish or
otherwise.

The  large deltopectoral crest and pronounced olecranon process on
Suchomimus certainly indicate the presence in the arms of very powerful
flexor and extensor muscles.  This type of skeletal architecture is not
dissimilar to that seen in animals that must dig or tear things apart to get
their food; giant ant-eaters, for example.  I can imagine a similar
lifestyle for the Jurassic ancestors of Suchomimus--roaming around tearing
apart nests or trees and using its long neck and snout to get to get at
hidden prey (or even tearing apart carcasses).  This behavior could easily
have allowed some later specialization of the snout for certain types of
food.

PTNorton@msn.com