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No study establishes that Spinosaurus spent most of its life underwater. A 2024 analysis of skull shape instead suggests its skull was adapted for feeding on aquatic prey, with the authors favoring a stand-and-wait hunting strategy. That finding supports an aquatic-food connection, not a measure of how long the dinosaur was submerged or proof that it chased prey underwater.
What the 2024 skull study found
Sean Smart and Manabu Sakamoto compared size-adjusted skull measurements across reptiles, birds and other sauropsids, then used multivariate clustering to examine how skull form related to ecological realm. Their PeerJ paper found that terrestrial ecologies were distinct from both semi-aquatic and aquatic ecologies, while the semi-aquatic and aquatic groups were not significantly different. Read the study in PeerJ.
Spinosaurids, including Spinosaurus, plotted away from other theropods and nearer to marine animals and wading birds. The authors interpreted that pattern as evidence of skull construction better suited to feeding on aquatic prey. They wrote that it would bolster “stand-and-wait” predation of aquatic prey more than other proposed feeding methods.
The analysis does not sort neatly into three levels of aquatic living. Smart and Sakamoto said those three ecological categories were inappropriate for the pattern they observed; the clusters appeared instead to reflect adaptations for feeding on aquatic versus terrestrial food. In other words, the skull data speak most directly to likely food and feeding function, not how much time the animal spent in water.
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What the figures mean
The paper’s figure includes 95 representative taxa. Its first two principal components account for 48.06% and 30.10% of variation in the skull-morphology dataset. Those percentages describe how the measured skull variation is represented in the analysis; they are not estimates of time underwater, swimming ability or hunting success.
“Aquatic” can describe several different behaviors
Calling Spinosaurus aquatic can blur important distinctions. Eating fish does not by itself show that an animal swam far from shore; wading is not the same as diving; and submerging to forage is not proof of active underwater pursuit. The skull study is most relevant to feeding adaptation and does not resolve all these behavioral possibilities.
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- Shoreline feeding: taking aquatic prey near the water’s edge.
- Wading: entering shallow water to feed without necessarily swimming.
- Surface swimming: moving through water while remaining at or near the surface.
- Submerged foraging: diving or remaining underwater to find prey.
- Underwater pursuit: actively chasing prey below the surface.
These are different claims and need not rise or fall together. A skull adapted to aquatic prey does not, on its own, tell us which of these behaviors Spinosaurus used or how often.
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Why researchers still disagree about Spinosaurus in water
Scientists have used different kinds of evidence to address swimming and submergence, and they do not all point to one settled account. Skull shape, bone density, buoyancy, locomotion and fossil context are distinct lines of evidence. A conclusion based on one should not be presented as if it directly establishes every other aspect of the animal’s ecology.
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Bone-density classifications
A 2024 PLOS ONE paper by Myhrvold and colleagues reexamined datasets and statistical assumptions behind a bone-compactness classification that had been used to argue for subaqueous foraging. Its abstract reports problems with the exemplar datasets and low accuracy from the statistical method on those data. The authors explicitly said their study did not aim to determine Spinosaurus ecology and did not settle the debate. Read the PLOS ONE paper.
The competing positions remain important context. A University of Chicago report quoted Nathan Myhrvold, who criticized the earlier analysis, while also describing Matteo Fabbri’s team’s view that its revised bone-density analysis continued to support submergence. These are researchers’ positions in an ongoing debate, not a consensus ruling. See the University of Chicago report.
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Skeletal and biomechanical arguments
A 2022 eLife paper by Sereno and co-authors used skeletal reconstruction and biomechanical analysis to argue against specialized aquatic pursuit predation, describing Spinosaurus instead as semiaquatic. Other research supports greater aquatic capability, so that conclusion is contested rather than definitive. Read the eLife paper.
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A 2025 study of oxygen isotopes in Spinosaurus tooth dentine investigated high-resolution palaeoenvironmental reconstruction and discussed possible seasonal variation in environmental signals. Such environmental clues are not a direct measurement of the proportion of a day or lifetime spent underwater. Read the 2025 isotope study.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What can—and cannot—be concluded
- Supported by the 2024 skull analysis: Spinosaurus and other spinosaurids had skull features associated in the comparison with aquatic feeding and with marine-animal and wading-bird morphologies.
- The authors’ functional interpretation: that skull construction would better support stand-and-wait predation on aquatic prey than other proposed feeding methods.
- Not established by that analysis: that Spinosaurus spent most of its life underwater, how long it was submerged, or that it was a diving pursuit predator.
- Still debated: how well Spinosaurus could swim or submerge, and whether it actively pursued prey underwater.
No published figure in the cited sources measures the share of Spinosaurus’ daily activity or lifetime spent underwater. The title claim therefore goes beyond what the 2024 skull study demonstrates.
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