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Enormous ancient sea reptile identified from amateur fossil find

1 day ago
By Georgina Rannard,
Science reporter

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Sergey Krasovskiy Artist impression of the giant ichthyosaurSergey Krasovskiy
Scientists have identified what was probably the largest marine reptile ever to
swim in the seas - a creature longer than two, nose-to-nose buses.

The creature lived around 202 million years ago alongside the dinosaurs.

Its fossilised jawbone was found in 2016 by a fossil hunter on a beach in Somerset,
UK. In 2020 a father and daughter found another similar jawbone.

Experts now say the fossils are from two giant ichthyosaur reptiles, which could
have been 25m long.

That is bigger than a huge pliosaur whose skull was found embedded in Dorset cliffs
and was in the David Attenborough documentary the Giant Sea Monster.

"Based on the size of the jawbones - one of them over a meter long and the other
two metres long - we can work out that the entire animal would have been about 25m
long, about as long as a blue whale," according to Dr Dean Lomax, a palaeontologist
at the University of Bristol, who wrote the scientific paper published on
Wednesday.

But he says more evidence, like a complete skull and skeleton, is needed to confirm
the exact size of the creature because just a few fragments have been found so far.

The giant ichthyosaur died out in a mass extinction and the ichthyosaurs that lived
after that never reached the enormous size again, he said.

The first glimpse of the creature came in 2016 when fossil hunter Paul de la Salle
was scouring Somerset beaches. He has collected fossils for 25 years after being
inspired by famous fossilist Steve Etches.

Tony Jolliffe BBC Paul de la Salle and his wife Carol go fossil hunting
togetherTony Jolliffe BBC
Paul de la Salle and his wife Carol go fossil hunting together
Trawling the beach with his wife Carol, he saw what turned out to be the find of a
lifetime - the first known jawbone of this giant, marine reptile.

When he talked to Dean Lomax, they suspected they might be on to a major discovery.
They published their findings in 2018.

But they wanted more evidence to understand just how big the creature had been.

"We kept our fingers crossed for more discoveries," says Dean. In 2020, father and
daughter Justin and Ruby Reynolds found what Dean was looking for, 10km down the
coast at Blue Anchor.

Tony Jolliffe/BBC The newly-discovered jawbone fossils (at the top) dwarf the same
bones from orca-sized animals (at the bottom)Tony Jolliffe/BBC
The newly-discovered jawbone fossils (at the top) dwarf the same bones from orca-
sized animals (at the bottom)
"I was massively impressed - really, really excited. I knew that right at that
point we had a second giant jawbone from one of these massive ichthyosaurs just
like Paul's," Dean says.

Paul rushed to the beach and helped them uncover more. "I dug through all the thick
mud. After about an hour, my shovel hit something solid - and this bone came out
perfectly preserved," he says.

The team, as well as family members, carried on looking for fragments of the second
jaw - the last piece was found in 2022.

Dean Lomax Dean Lomax, Ruby Reynolds, Justin Reynolds and Paul de la Salle found
pieces of the marine creatureDean Lomax
Dean Lomax, Ruby Reynolds, Justin Reynolds and Paul de la Salle with the creature's
fossilised jawbone
The discovery gave them more evidence to estimate its size. Now they have concluded
that the huge animal is a new species of ichthyosaur, which they have named
Ichthyotitan severnensis, or giant fish lizard of the Severn.

Dean co-wrote the latest scientific paper with Ruby Reynolds - one day he says the
specimen she found may even be named Ruby.

Gabriel Ugueto Artist impression of the giant ichthyosaurGabriel Ugueto

The specimen Paul found has been in his garage for three years while the team
analysed it. Soon it will go on public display at the Bristol Museum and Art
Gallery.

"I will be a bit sad to say cheerio. I've come to know it and studied it in such
intense detail. But it's also a relief because I won't have to worry about it so
much," says Paul.

Dean says the discovery highlights how important amateur fossil collectors are.

"Families and all sorts of people can make amazing discoveries You don't have to be
a world expert. As long as you have that bit of patience and a keen eye, you can
make a discovery," he says.

Palaeontology
Dinosaurs
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