[15] The original three skulls (all assigned to different species) were poorly known, and the genus had been considered a junior synonym of Metriorhynchus, Geosaurus or Dakosaurus by different palaeontologists in the past.

Cladogram after Sachs et al. (2021):[18] Geosaurinae Thalattosuchus Gracilineustes Maledictosuchus Metriorhynchus Rhacheosaurus C. albersdoerferi C. bambergensis C. elegans C. puelchorum C. suevicus C. rauhuti C. schroederi C. vignaudi C. lithographicus C. araucanensis All currently known species would have been three metres or less in length.

[19] Recent examination of the fossil specimens of Cricosaurus araucanensis have shown that both juveniles and adults of this species had well-developed salt glands.

This means that it would have been able to "drink" salt-water from birth (necessary for a pelagic animal) and eat prey that have the same ionic concentration as the surrounding sea water (i.e. cephalopods) without dehydrating.

[22] Several species of metriorhynchids are known from the Mörnsheim Formation (Solnhofen limestone, early Tithonian) of Bavaria, Germany: Cricosaurus suevicus, Dakosaurus maximus, Geosaurus giganteus and Rhacheosaurus gracilis.

The long-snouted C. suevicus and R. gracilis would have fed mostly on fish, although the more lightly built Rhacheosaurus may have specialised towards feeding on small prey.

In other pseudosuchians like Steneosaurus, Machimosaurus, and Pelagosaurus, the sacral ribs are less angled and more horizontal; in this way, Cricosaurus is actually more similar to aquatic reptiles like Chaohusaurus, Utatsusaurus, and Keichousaurus, the latter of which live birth has been suggested for.