Under the earth’s sediments you can find the secrets of an ancient history. The history of our Earth and the inhabitants who walked its paths millions of years ago. Fossils are our greatest guide to understanding how the world worked in ages past. Thanks to the excavations, fossils of all kinds have been found that paleontologists have been in charge of classifying and that is why we have information on prehistoric animal species. However, from time to time a very well-preserved one appears that ends up surprising researchers due to its purity, such is the case of the ‘sea dragon’ fossil Just found in England.
The largest and most complete ‘sea dragon’ fossil
It is the largest and most complete skeletal fossil of a ichthyosaur found in UK, a dinosaur colloquially called ‘sea dragon’ for its characteristics. It is believed to be the first discovery of an ichthyosaur of the species. Temnodontosaurus trigonodon in that nation. the fossil it is in near mint condition so researchers are very eager to analyze and discover the secrets it brings with it.
The remains were discovered at Rutland Water Nature Reserve, which the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust manage. Joe Davis, who is the leader of the Rutland water conservancy team, was on a routine expedition to an island in the lagoon to model the landscape, when he spotted the specimen in a fossilized state.
Joe noticed what looked like clay tubes sticking out of the wet earth surrounding the pond. He immediately noticed that these were not man-made objects, but rather seemed to have an ‘organic’ origin. Previously, the researcher had already found remains of whale and dolphin skeletons in the area, so he thought it was something similar. Except this time he looked at what appeared to be enormous vertebrae. Then he came upon what was indisputably a column that further ended connected to a huge jawbone.
Combination of reptile and fish
According to the tests, the great ichthyosaur lived approximately 180 million years ago and has a skeleton it is around 10 meters long, with a skull that weighs one ton. A colossal creature that at some point in geological history swam in the waters of that region. It is the largest and most complete skeleton of its kind discovered in the United Kingdom, which according to paleontologist and ichthyosaur expert Dr. Dean Lomax, is the birthplace of these great dinosaurs. «Their fossils have been unearthed here for more than 200 years.»
The ichthyosaurs, the great sea dragons, They first appeared on Earth approximately 250 million years ago and saw their extinction 90 million years ago. So they swam in the waters of our planet from the Lower Triassic to the Upper Cretaceous. They were large beings, a mix between dolphin-like marine reptiles and fish, which were later replaced by plesiosaurs as the dominant predators of the water.
It might interest you