First discovered by Mary Anning, one of palaeontology’s founding names, in 1910 on the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, Ichthyosaurus had a very wide geographic distribution, and their fossil remains span almost the entire Mesozoic Era (251 million to 65.5 million years ago), but they were most abundant during the Triassic and Jurassic periods (251 million to 145 million years ago).

They evolved streamlined, fish-like bodies for fast swimming and lived in waters that covered much of continental Europe during the early Jurassic Period, around 150 million years ago. Living in both shallow and deep waters and possessing long thin jaws with numerous teeth, they preyed on a range of animals, including octopus, squid and cuttlefish.

Hundreds of hours were spent delicately removing rock from the fossilised bones of this ichthyosaur in order to re-expose them.