A giant and tall seadragon, the Ichtyosaurn has been foud fosilised in a rutland reservoir in the UK. Joe Davis, a worker at Rutland Water Nature Reserve is the one who found it.

In February 2021, Joe spotted something peaking out of the mud. After digging the mysterious object, he found a 10-meter-long seadragon, the Ichthyosaur, it’s not a dinosaur but a predator that lived on the earth from 250 million years ago to 90 million years ago.

It was the largest of its type ever found in the UK. These could even grow to 25 meters long!

The Ichthyosaur is a type of warm-blooded, air-breathing sea predator, unlike dolphins.

Dr. Dean Lomax was brought to lead the excavation  project, he said because of its size and completeness that it was one of the best finds in the British Palaeontological history

“Usually we think of Ichthyosaurs and other marine reptiles being discovered along the Jurassic Coast in Dorset or the Yorkshire coast, where many of them are exposed by the erosion of the cliffs. Here at an inland location is very unusual,” said Dr. Dean.

Rutland is far from the coast, around 30 miles away, but 200 million years ago, this was covered by a huge ocean, the water level was way higher than right now! Because of the high level of water, the paleontologist waited till the summer of 2021 to dig the remains of the huge seadragon skeleton and they paid extra attention to the huge skull removal.

The huge fossil finally got moved carefully to be examined,  weighing almost a tonne.

“It’s not often you are responsible for safely lifting a very important but very fragile fossil weighing that much,” said Nigel Larkin, palaeontological conservator and Visiting Research Fellow at Reading University. “It is a responsibility, but I love a challenge,” said Mr. Davis

A TV program <<Digging for Britain>> will be available on January 11 at 8 pm on BBC two.

Link:  https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-59915689