A section of the pliosaur's 2 metre long fossilised lower jaw bone.
THE WEYMOUTH BAY PLIOSAUR
A new species of dinosaur and the largest marine predator ever found
The fossilised skull of a Pliosaur, the largest marine reptile that ever lived, has been discovered on the Dorset coast – now on permanent display in the Jurassic Coast gallery at Dorset County Museum.
The skull is 2.4 metres long and could belong to a creature measuring up to 16 metres in length from tip to tail and weighing up to 12 tonnes. It is believed to be 155m years old. A type of plesiosaur, the pliosaur had a short neck and huge, crocodile-like heads that contained immensely powerful jaws with a set of huge, razor-sharp teeth.
The likely size of the Dorset pliosaur compared with a human and a killer whale.
Richard Forrest, a plesiosaur expert and advisor to the Jurassic Coast marine heritage site team said the discovery was fortunate because pliosaur skulls were generally found crushed flat.
"What is fantastic about this new skull, not only is it absolutely enormous, but it is pretty much in 3D and not distorted. You have this wonderful lower jaw – and you can just see from the depth and the thickness that this was immensely strong."
The fossil was found by local collector Kevan Sheehan in Weymouth Bay, although the precise location of the discovery is currently being withheld as Dorset County Council do not want crowds of fossil collectors overwhelming an area that is prone to landslides.
Research by scientists at the University of Southampton suggests that this Dorset specimen is the largest complete pliosaur skull ever discovered and powerful CT scanning technology will reveal whether or not it is a new species. Undoubtedly its discovery rivals finds made in Svalbard, an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, where a specimen dubbed “Predator X" was thought to have measured 15m, and in Mexico, where the "Monster of Aramberri" was discovered in 2002, and is believed to have been of similar dimensions.
Purchased on behalf of Dorset County Museum by Dorset County Council with money from the Heritage Lottery Fund, it will now be analysed, prepared and then put on public display in Summer 2011. Follow this link to find out more about the latest scientific discoveries and learn how the conservation work is progressing.