Largest 'sea dragon' fossil unearthed in Britain
A ten-meter-long ichthyosaur was discovered in February last year and excavated over the course of months.
A man poses next to excavated remains of a Britain's largest ichthyosaur, at Rutland Water, Rutland county, Britain.(photo credit: Anglian Water/Matthew Power Photography via REUTERS)
The fossil
of Britain's largest "sea dragon" (ichthyosaur) was unearthed in the
Rutland Water Nature Reserve which is run in partnership with Anglian
Water, the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust reported on their
website on Monday.
The
fossil was first discovered by Rutland Water Conservation Team Leader
Joe Davis during a routine draining of a lagoon island in February of
2021 and was carefully excavated over the last year.
Davis
said he first noticed the fossil when what he thought were clay pipes
looked too organic to him, so he pointed them out to Reserves Officer
Paul Trevor.
Giant "sea dragon" fossil from the Jurassic period discovered in the UK
"I worked out in the Hebrides, so I've found whale and dolphin
skeletons before," he said. "This appeared similar, and I remarked to
Trevor that they looked like vertebrae. We followed what indisputably
looked like a spine, and Paul discovered something further along that
could have been a jawbone. We couldn't quite believe it."
The
fossil has been dated to about 180 million years ago and measures 10
meters in length with a skull weighing about a ton. Two incomplete and
much smaller ichthyosaurs were found in the same reserve in the 70s, but
this discovery is the largest complete ichthyosaur discovered in
Britain.
Palaeontologists work at a site where remains of a Britain's largest ichthyosaur were found, at Rutland Water, Rutland county, Britain. (credit: Anglian Water/Matthew Power Photography via REUTERS)
"Rutland water has a long list of previous fascinating archaeological
and palaeontological discoveries but none more exciting than this,"
said CEO of Anglian Water Peter Simpson. "We also recognize the
significance a find like this will have for the local community in
Rutland. Our focus now is to secure the right funding to guarantee its
legacy will last into the future."
Anglian
Water is currently trying to secure heritage funding that will allow
the remains to be preserved and kept in Rutland where the fossil can be
shared with the public.
"The
finding has been absolutely fascinating and a real career highlight,"
said Davis. It's great to learn so much from the discovery and to think
that this amazing creature was once swimming in seas about us, and now
once again, Rutland Water is a haven for wetland wildlife albeit on a
smaller scale."
Fossil
evidence shows that ichthyosaurs first appeared 250 million years ago
and went extinct 90 million years ago. They evolved from reptile species
that later returned to the sea in a similar way to how ancestors of the
dolphins and whales were land animals. The ichthyosaurs are nicknamed
"sea dragons" due to their large eyes and teeth.
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