British Plumber Stumbles Upon Mysterious ‘Sea Dragon’ Fossil That Could Rewrite Dinosaur History
When Etches dug up the specimen, he quickly realized that there was something unusual with his discovery. Although parts of the animal appeared to bear a striking resemblance to an ichthyosaur, there was something different about the teeth.
Etches sent the fossils to researchers at the University of Portsmouth where the bones were examined for years. In December 2020, researchers published their study on the fossils in the journal PLOS One, revealing that the fossils belonged to a new species of aquatic dinosaur.
The Etches CollectionThe new dinosaur was uncovered by Steve Etches (pictured), an amateur fossil hunter who has made a number of discoveries around Dorset.
Ichthyosaurs were Jurassic sea predators that sported scale-less dolphin-like bodies and razor-sharp teeth. They have been found in parts of North America and were alive during most of the Mesozoic era about 252 to 66 million years ago.
But the extinct animal that Etches found had characteristics completely separate from other known species, meriting the creation of a new genus. The sea creature was named Thalassodraco etchesi.
“This animal was obviously doing something different compared to other ichthyosaurs. One idea is that it could be a deep-diving species, like sperm whales,” said Megan L. Jacobs, a paleontologist at Baylor University and co-author of the study.
“The extremely deep rib cage may have allowed for larger lungs for holding their breath for extended periods, or it may mean that the internal organs weren’t crushed under the pressure. It also has incredibly large eyes, which means it could see well in low light. That could mean it was diving deep down, where there was no light, or it may have been nocturnal.”
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