Palaeontology

Prehistoric 'sea dragon' fossil unearthed

By T.K. Randall
December 27, 2020 ·  2 comments

The fossil ichthyosaur is around 6ft long. Image Credit: University of Portsmouth The Jurassic-era creature, which was discovered in a deep marine deposit along the coastline of Dorset in southern England, dates back 150 million years to a time when the oceans were teeming with prehistoric creatures, pterosaurs ruled the skies and dinosaurs roamed the land.

Nicknamed 'sea dragon', the new species (official name Thalassodraco etchesi) was part of a group of streamlined dolphin-like marine predators known as ichthyosaurs.

This particular specimen, which was originally unearthed in 2009, was around 6ft long.

It was found by amateur fossil collector Steve Etches."I'm very pleased that this ichthyosaur has been found to be new to science, and I'm very honored for it to be named after me," he said.

"It's excellent that new species of ichthyosaurs are still being discovered, which shows just how diverse these incredible animals were in the Late Jurassic seas."

Prehistoric “Sea Dragon” fossil discovered in the English Channel https://t.co/1gUQVzfxez

— SlashGear (@slashgear) December 26, 2020

Source: Slashgear | Comments (2)

Tags: Ichthyosaur