A huge fossil of a prehistoric "sea dragon" was recently discovered at the Rutland Water reservoir in central Britain, which has been described as one of the greatest discoveries in the history of British paleontology. According to the MSN website reprinted in the British "Daily Mail" on January 10, the skeleton of the ichthyosaur was excavated 10 meters underground, and it is the largest and most complete animal skeleton found in the UNITED Kingdom so far, 32 feet (10 meters) long and weighing a ton.
More commonly known as ichthyosaurs, the sea dragon was one of the most common types of marine reptiles from the Triassic to the Jurassic period, and was the earliest important reptile that successfully adapted to marine life. Their fossils have been found in many parts of the world, but for some reason, the creature disappeared about before the Cretaceous mass extinction (90 million years ago). Ichthyosaurs vary in size, from 1 meter to 20 meters, and the skeleton of this ichthyosaur found in the Uk this time is 10 meters long, and it is indeed rare to preserve it so intact.
The fossil was discovered by Davis, a staff member of the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust in the United Kingdom, during routine drainage work on lagoon islands in the Rutland Reservoir. Then a team of experts from across the UK began digging between August and September last year. When the Rutland Reservoir was built in the United Kingdom in the 1970s, two incomplete, smaller ichthyosaurs were found, but this discovery was the first complete fossil.
The first Ichthyosaur fossil was discovered by fossil hunter and paleontologist Anning in the early 19th century. Ichthyosaurs are often referred to as sea dragons because of their very large teeth and eyes. Romex, a paleontologist who studies ichthyosaurs, said that although many ichthyosaur fossils have been found in the United Kingdom, the Rutland ichthyosaur fossils are the largest ichthyosaur fossils ever found in the United Kingdom, and one of the greatest discoveries in the history of British paleontology.