Largest marine reptile to have ever swam the seas lived over 200 million years ago

Scientists have identified the largest marine reptile ever to swim in the seas. The creature lived 202 million years ago, a scientific paper published on Wednesday (Apr 17) said. The creature's fossilised jawbone was found in 2016 by a fossil hunter on a beach in Somerset. Four years later, a father and daughter found another similar jawbone, a report by BBC said.

The fossils are from the ichthyosaur reptile, which could have been 25 metres long. "The new find is comparable in size and morphology to a specimen from Lilstock, Somerset, described in 2018, but it is more complete and better preserved. Both finds are from the uppermost Triassic Westbury Mudstone Formation (Rhaetian), but the new specimen comes from Blue Anchor, approximately 10 km west along the coast from Lilstock," the scientific paper published on Wednesday said.

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"We herein formally assign these two specimens to a new genus and species, Ichthyotitan severnensis, which is the first-named giant ichthyosaur from the Rhaetian. This taxon has an estimated body length of around 25 m, or at least somewhere in the 20–26 m range, and represents the largest estimate for a prehistoric marine reptile," the paper added.

Dr Dean Lomax, a palaeontologist and the lead author of the paper said that the giant ichthyosaur died out in a mass extinction and the ichthyosaurs that lived after that never reached the enormous size again, BBC reported.

The first glimpse of this creature came in 2016 when fossil hunter Paul de la Salle was scouring Somerset beaches. Salle discovered what turned out to be the first known jawbone of this marine reptile.

He talked to Dr Lomax, and they published their findings in 2018 but wanted more evidence to understand just how big the creature was, BBC reported.

In 2020, Ruby Reynolds and her father Justin found what Lomax was looking for.

"I was massively impressed - really, really excited. I knew that right at that point we had a second giant jawbone from one of these massive ichthyosaurs just like Paul's," the palaeontologist told BBC.

(With inputs from agencies)