YORK.- One of the biggest sea monsters ever found in Britain is going back on display as a complete fossil for the first time in decades.

The giant ichthyosaur would have been about eight metres long and swam in the tropical waters which covered North Yorkshire 180 million years ago.

For the last 12 months the fossilised remains of the massive sea creature have been painstakingly conserved by an expert.

And now, for the first time in 20 years, the whole of the fossil has been put back on display.

The project has been made possible thanks to a £20,000 grant from the PRISM Fund which was match funded by York Museums Trust.

Isla Gladstone, curator of Natural Science, said: “These are the remains of a huge creature which we think looked a bit like an enormous dolphin. It would probably have filled a similar role to the dolphin too, being an active hunter, seeking out squid-like creatures, fish and potentially other reptiles.

“It is rare to find such a complete example and we are delighted that we can now put all of it back on display for people to see.”

The Yorkshire Museum’s ichthyosaur was found in Jurassic rocks near Whitby, a place renowned for its fossil discoveries. It was acquired by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society in 1857, who made a conscious effort to keep the specimen in Britain and in a public collection.

For the last 12 months the fossil has been in the hands of conservator Nigel Larkin from Natural History Conservation. Now the fossil has been returned Isla, Nigel and assistant curator of natural science, Stuart Ogilvy, have been painstakingly been matching up the parts and placing them in the right order.
This species of ichthyosaur, called Temnodontosaurus crassimanus, would have swam in the seas which covered Yorkshire while dinosaurs roamed the earth. Ichthyosaur eyes were the largest in comparison to body size ever thought to have existed. It was named by Richard Owen, the same person who created the name dinosaur.