New Marine Predator Species Unearthed, Believed To Have Been Part Of Late Jurassic Period

There is a lot to know as far as the species that were around roughly 150 million years ago. Most would know that this is now best referred to as the Jurassic age and thanks to the efforts of paleontologists like Megan L. Jacobs, a new mysterious small marine reptile has been found.

The new species is known as the Thalassodraco etchesi or Etches sea dragon. They were recently discovered in a Late Jurassic deep marine deposit along the English Channel coastline in Dorset, England.

“This ichthyosaur has several differences that makes it unique enough to be its own genus and species,” Jacobs said via SciTech Daily. “New Late Jurassic ichthyosaurs in the United Kingdom are extremely rare, as these creatures have been studied for 200 years. We knew it was new almost instantly, but it took about a year to make thorough comparisons with all other Late Jurassic ichthyosaurs to make certain our instincts were correct. It was very exciting to not be able to find a match.”

The specimen was discovered in 2009 and is believed to be about 6 feet long. It was discovered by fossil collector Steve Etches MBE after a "cliff crumbled along the seaside."

Judging by its fossils, it appears the ichthyosaur has some similarities to sperm whales. This is due to its extremely deep rib cage that suggests it may have had bigger lungs and space to make sure that its internal organs were not crushed.

Aside from that, other notable traits include large eyes which suggest it could see fairly well even in low lit conditions. It also had hundreds of tiny teeth which hints that it may have followed a diet, feeding on squid and small fish.

“There is hardly anything actually known about the biology of these animals. We can only make assumptions from the fossils we have, but there’s nothing like it around today. Eventually, to adapt to being fully aquatic, they no longer could go up onto land to lay eggs, so they evolved into bearing live young, tail first. There have been skeletons found with babies within the mother and also ones that were actually being born,” Jacobs added.