A beach walk in Dorset has led two Belgian holidaymakers to an extraordinary discovery: the fossilised remains of a giant ichthyosaur that lived around 174 million years ago.
Michel Plissart and Carine Christens were exploring the shoreline near Bridport when they came across a raised shelf of rock emerging from the sand.
Looking more closely, the couple noticed several fragments of bone jutting out from the exposed sandstone.
The chance find turned out to be far more significant than they could have imagined. It was a rare ichthyosaur fossil—and the youngest example of its type ever discovered in the UK.
Ichthyosaurs were air-breathing marine reptiles with streamlined, dolphin-like bodies. They dominated the oceans from roughly 250 million years ago.
Researchers from the University of Bristol dated the bones and concluded that this enormous “sea dragon” lived approximately 174 million years ago.
The dating suggests the creature inhabited Britain’s coastal waters nine million years after a catastrophic event previously thought to have driven ichthyosaurs to extinction.
Belgian tourists Michel Plissart (left) and Carine Christens (right) found the remains of a 174-million-year-old giant ichthyosaur during a walk on a Dorset beach
Phil Davidson, a palaeontologist at the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre, recalled being at work when Mr Plissart and Ms Christens arrived to report their remarkable discovery three years ago.
“They knew we might not believe they had found something truly special, so they brought one of the loose pieces of bone with them,” Mr Davidson told the Daily Mail.
“I was slightly shocked and amazed, because this was not the sort of thing you would expect to find there.”
The palaeontologist’s astonishment was understandable: the section of coastline where the tourists made their discovery was not regarded as a notable location for ichthyosaur fossils.
The beach sits within the Bridport Sands Formation, a geological layer that is as much as 20 million years younger than the rocks where ichthyosaur remains are typically found.
However, when local fossil experts reached the site, they confirmed that the visitors had correctly identified something extraordinary.
Embedded in a slab of sandstone were the largely complete remains of a huge prehistoric marine predator.
Ichthyosaurs first appeared during the Triassic period, evolving from reptiles whose ancestors had returned to the sea after spending millions of years on land.
The tourists unknowingly discovered the remains of a giant ichthyosaur (artist’s impression), a dolphin-like marine predator that first appeared around 250 million years ago
After the fossil was exposed, experts faced a “race against time” to recover it before winter storms could disperse the fragile bones along the beach
This highly varied group included some of the largest animals ever to inhabit Earth, as well as smaller dolphin-like species that moved swiftly through shallow coastal waters.
Ichthyosaur fossils have been found across the globe, although in Britain they are most strongly associated with the Jurassic Coast, a 95-mile stretch of southern England.
One of the most striking things that these fossils reveal is just how different the UK would have been when the ichthyosaurs still ruled the seas.
‘It would have been quite a lot different than today,’ says Mr Davidson. ‘Sea levels would have been a lot higher, and we were a lot closer to the equator, so a bit more of a tropical island archipelago, similar to how Barbados is today.’
However, the UK’s current climate meant there wasn’t any time for celebration after this new fossil was discovered.
Having been found in the depths of winter, unpredictable weather and powerful storms meant the rare remains could be swept away if the team didn’t act fast.
Mr Davidson says: ‘It’s always a kind of race against time. The natural elements reveal these fossils, but they also destroy them as well.’
Palaeontologists collected the fossils and sent them to the University of Bristol for scientific analysis. They will go on display at the nearby Bridport Museum this weekend
‘It’ll get smashed up and spread along the beach, and all those lovely bones will be turned into pebbles and sand.’
While it took some serious heavy lifting, the team were eventually able to remove the slabs of stone and sledge them down the beach and into safety.
After being cleaned of excess stone by local fossil preparators and collectors, the remains were sent off to the experts at Bristol University, where they have been scientifically studied.
The ichthyosaur fossil will go on display at the nearby Bridport Museum this weekend, which Mr Davidson sees as a fitting end for this spectacular story of discovery.
He says: ‘This is almost the best-case scenario really, because you’ve got a specimen that’s been prepared by world-class professionals, and then, in collaboration with Bristol University, it’s been scientifically described so the world can know about it.
‘Now it’s been donated to a local museum where it can go on to inspire other people, and it all starts with the fossils being saved from the sea.’