Largest 'sea dragon' dinosaur found in Britain to be cleaned and preserved in Shropshire

The ichthyosaur, approximately 180 million years old with a skeleton measuring around 10 metres in length and a skull weighing approximately one tonne, is the largest and most complete fossil of its kind ever found in the UK.

It was discovered by Joe Davis of Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust during a routine draining of a lagoon island at Rutland Water Nature Reserve in February 2021.

The first ichthyosaurs, which are called sea dragons because they tended to have very large teeth and eyes, were discovered by fossil hunter and palaeontologist Mary Anning in the early 19th century.

Nigel Larkin, a specialist paleontological conservator based in North Shropshire, will now work on the process of cleaning and preserving the remains at his county base.

The work will be invaluable for research into the specimen, and ultimately its future display.

Mr Larkin had first been called to view the discovery with colleagues early in 2021.

He said: "Initially, we had been presented with a dozen or so exposed vertebrae, and suspicious-looking lumps reaching out in both directions either side but had no idea if just a small portion of a skeleton had been preserved – as is normally the case – or if it would be more complete.

"We thought that the specimen might have had its tail destroyed or scattered by bulldozers when the lagoon had been dug out some ten years previously, not least because two ichthyosaur tail vertebrae were found quite some distance from the specimen.

"Thankfully, those two tail bones turned out to be from a different skeleton as we soon uncovered ribs, a portion of the skull, and – amazingly – revealed an entire vertebral column down to the very tip of the tail where the vertebrae are the size of a penny.

"Incredibly, within a few hours we had uncovered what looked like an almost complete and well-preserved skeleton with all the bones still in association.

"Furthermore, it was huge. From our measurements it was immediately apparent that at about 10 metres long this was the largest ichthyosaur skeleton ever discovered in the whole of the British Isles, and also the most complete within that size range."

The spectacular fossil, described by Mr Larkin as "a truly unprecedented discovery and one of the greatest finds in British palaeontological history", was excavated by a team led by himself and Dr Dean Lomax, working 12 hour days for three weeks.

The fossil was eventually painstakingly wrapped in sturdy plaster jackets to enable its transportation for cleaning and research.

Mr Larkin said they had been thrilled to discover that it was a complete skeleton.

He said: "When these things are found and you are asked to have a look you think 'is it worth it, will it be a skeleton, what will we find?', even if it is 50 per cent complete that is amazing.

"But when we we finished at the end of the day we realised it was totally complete and that is exceptional."

Mr Larkin explained what would happen to the fossil now, ahead of it hopefully becoming a centrepiece in Rutland Museum.

He said: "I will now spend about two years of my life cleaning it up.

"You have to re-excavate it under lab conditions under a microscope and get all that detail because there will be stomach contents which could tell us what it was feeding on."

The excavation of the remains will feature on BBC Two's Digging For Britain on Tuesday at 8pm.