Long-necked sea monsters dominate the Jurassic ocean

British scientists found a 165-million-year-old fossil skeleton of an animal in the Jurassic family of the plesiosaur, which is huge in size and many features never seen before.

Dr. Hilary Ketchum at Oxford Museum of Natural History, England, took over an hour to temporarily match the skeleton of the plesiosaur (Plesiosaur) Eve 165 million years, revealing the huge size of the animal, with the Big legs shaped paddle and long neck.

Image recreated by Plesiosaur.(Photo: Science Photo Library).

The Plesiosaur once dominated the ocean for more than a hundred million years before disappearing at the same time as the extinction of the dinosaurs. Despite the prevalence of prehistoric oceans, the presence of this animal is linked to many questions about the biology, anatomy and evolution that researchers have not been able to answer.

Plesiosaur is a very strange animal, according to Dr. Ketchum, who looks after geological specimens at the museum."They have relatives with other reptiles like dinosaurs, crocodiles, fish lizards and turtles, but we are not sure how to classify them , " said Dr. Ketchum.

The specimen was discovered by an amateur archaeological group from the bone found at a quarry."One member of the group found several pieces of bone from the flippers mixed in the clay," Dr. Ketchum said. "They continue to search and eventually detect the entire skeleton. We think it may be a new species, but even if not, this fossil is also very strange. There are very few Plesiosaur fossils. with nearly complete skeleton like this ".

Eve's fossil skeleton.(Photo: BBC).

The fossil skeleton was discovered at the Must Farm quarry near Peterborough, England. Mark Wildman and members of the Oxford Working Group specialize in finding fossils, deciding to name the skeleton Eve, as this was their first major discovery. The true gender of fossils has not been determined, because the first plesiosaur is confirmed by carrying an egg inside.

Eve was found in 2014 under the layers of rock that existed from the Jurassic period, located deep in the ocean and carrying fossils of marine animals such as plesiosaur and fish lizards (ichthyosaurs) . This soil is called the Oxford clay layer, stretching along most of England and exposed in quarries around Oxford, Peterborough and Weymouth. This fossil is donated by a quarry owner to the Museum of Natural History at Oxford University, where employees spend months cleaning and restoring it.

In the lab next to the museum, Juliet conservator Carefully use a knife to remove mud from the skull. Fossilized clay fossils are being cleaned slowly to preserve bones and teeth. This is a complex task, requires patience but is necessary to prepare for the analysis process.

Juliet Preserver Carefully work with the skull part of the Plesiosaur.(Photo: BBC).

"High-resolution scanned images show that we have very well preserved bones, promising to bring a lot of information," said Dr. Roger Benson, who is investigating fossils.

"From what we see in the body, we think the animal has a number of characteristics different from those found before, so it is very likely that it is a new animal." According to Dr. Benson, checking the details of the skull will help confirm this conclusion.