Fossil of enormous sea monster and 'ultimate killing machine' discovered by scientists

Story by Catherine Shuttleworth • 

Fossil of enormous sea monster and 'ultimate killing machine' discovered by scientists

The skull of a colossal sea monster has been extracted from the cliffs of Dorset's Jurassic Coast.

The pliosaur was a marine reptile that terrorised the oceans roughly 150 million years ago. The fossil is two metres long and one of the most complete specimens of its type ever discovered.Palaeontologist Steve Etches told BBC News "it's one of the best fossils I've ever worked on. What makes it unique is it's complete."

"The lower jaw and the upper skull are meshed together, as they would be in life. Worldwide, there's hardly any specimens ever found to that level of detail. And if they are, a lot of the bits are missing, whereas this, although it's slightly distorted - it's got every bone present."

You really get a sense of how big the creature was when you realise the skull is longer than most humans are tall.

The fossil has 130 teeth, each tooth marked with fine ridges. These would have helped the pliosaur to pierce the flesh and then quickly extract its dagger-like fangs, ready for a rapid second attack.

"The animal would have been so massive that I think it would have been able to prey effectively on anything that was unfortunate enough to be in its space," says Dr Andre Rowe from Bristol University.

"I have no doubt that this was sort of like an underwater T. rex."

Fossil enthusiast Phil Jacobs came across the tip of the snout of the pliosaur lying in the shingle after a stroll along a beach near Kimmeridge Bay. Too heavy to carry, he rigged a makeshift stretcher to take the fossil fragment to safety with Steve Etches.

The soul will be featured in a special David Attenborough programme 'Attenborough and the Giant Sea Monster' on BBC One on New Year's Day.