Ophthalmosaurus

Ophthalmosaurus
Scientific name
Ophthalmosaurus icenicus
Type		Multi-part
Period(s)		Middle Jurassic
Length		???
Main appearances
DnM DnM+ AC DnMe+ iQue WW CF NL NH
Name in other languages  オフタルモサウルス  大眼鱼龙  Ophtalmosaure  Oftalmosaurio  Oftalmosauro  Офтальмозавр  오프탈모사우루스  大眼魚龍  Ophtalmosaure  Oftalmosaurio  Ophthalmosaurus  Ophthalmosaurus

The Ophthalmosaurus is a two-part fossil that can be donated to the museum in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Donating to the museum

In New Horizons

When the player donates to Blathers or selects "Tell me about this!" in New Horizons, he will provide the following information about the fossil:

"The adorable Ophthalmosaurus— cutest of all the Ichthyosaurs! What makes a large, sea-dwelling reptile cute, you may ask? I shall tell you... The eyes! Ophthalmosaurus's name means "eye lizard", and its face was quite dominated by those great orbs! Beside their cutifying effect, these eyes gave the creature great vision, making it a very successful hunter. And no doubt because its big doe eyes lulled prey into a false sense of security..."

The Ophthalmosaurus can be found in the second room of the fossil exhibit in the museum.

As an item

In New Horizons

Ophthalmo skull
Interactable	No
Sell price	2,500 Bells
Colors	Brown   Brown
Size

Ophthalmo torso
Interactable	No
Sell price	2,000 Bells
Colors	Brown   Brown
Size

Real-world information

Ophthalmosaurus (meaning "eye lizard" in Greek) is an ichthyosaur of the Middle Jurassic period (165-160 million years ago), named for its extremely large eyes. It had a graceful 6 m (19.5 ft) long dolphin-shaped body, and its almost toothless jaw was well adapted for catching squid. Major fossil finds of this genus have been recorded in Europe and North and South America.

Ophthalmosaurus had a body shaped like a tear-drop and a caudal fin like a half-moon. Its forelimbs were more developed than the hind ones, which suggests that the front fins did the steering while the tail did the propelling. Ophthalmosaurus's chief claim to fame is its eyes (some reaching about 9 inches or 220–230 mm in diameter) which were extremely large in proportion to its body. The eyes occupied almost all of the space in the skull and were protected by bony plates (sclerotic rings), which most likely assisted to maintain the shape of the eyeballs against water pressure at depth. The size of the eyes and the sclerotic rings suggests that Ophthalmosaurus hunted at a depth where there is not much light or that it may have hunted at night when a prey species was more active.

More information on this topic is available at Wikipedia.

Gallery

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  An Ophthalmosaurus as it appears in New Horizons