Ichthyosaur: Find out the details about ichthyosaur, a giant marine reptile. Ichthyosaur: A fossil jawbone discovered by a British girl and her father on a beach in Somerset, England. It is from a massive marine reptile that lived 202 million years ago.
What is Ichthyosaur
Scientists revealed that the bone is known as a surangular. It belonged to an ichthyosaur. They named the creature Ichthyotitan cevennensis. It estimated it to be around 72 to 85 feet (22-26 meters) long. It makes it one of the largest marine animals to have ever existed. During the time when dinosaurs were ruling the land, marine reptiles were the dominant creatures in the world’s oceans. One of these marine reptiles was the Ichthyosaur. It evolved from land-dwelling ancestors.They thrived for approximately 160 million years before disappearing around 90 million years ago. Ichthyosaurs came in various sizes and shapes and had a diet consisting of fish, squid relatives, and other marine reptiles. They were also unique in that they gave birth to live young. The Ichthyotitan is a particular type of Ichthyosaur that is only known from two jawbones. One of these jawbones was discovered by Ruby Reynolds and her father Justin Reynolds in 2020 at Blue Anchor, Somerset.The other jawbone belonged to a different Ichthyotitan individual. It was found in 2016 along the Somerset coast at Lilstock.