Strange, 183 million-year-old fossil found on farm in the UK
A team of scientists has uncovered a weird - and extremely ancient - fossil in an unlikely place in the United Kingdom.
A strange looking fossil of a fish has been uncovered from a farm in Stroud, England.
According to BBC News, the sea creature – called Pachycormus – is thought to be around 183 million years old and has big teeth and eyes with its mouth wide open.
The rock was discovered by fossil-hunters Neville and Sally Hollingworth.
“It was a real surprise because, when you find fossils, most of the time they’ve been pressed flat through pressure over time,” Neville told the outlet.
“But when we prepared this one, to reveal its bones bit by bit, it was amazing because we suddenly realised its skull was uncrushed.
“Its mouth is open – and it looks like it’s coming out at you from the rock.”
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The specimen was found in a grassy bank behind a cow shed in the village of Kings Stanley.
Landowner Adam Knight was unaware his cattle were grazing on top of a fossil seam.
He gave permission to the Hollingworths and a team of scientists from the University of Manchester to investigate the area further.
A digger was brought in to crack open more nodules, where the eye-popping fossil was originally buried in.
The group unearthed more fish, squid and the bones of two ichthyosaurs which are marine reptiles with a similar appearance to dolphins.
“We’ve got the whole food chain,” palaeontologist Dean Lomax, from University of Manchester, said.
“So this Pachycormus would have been eating the smaller fish and squids.
“And then, the ichthyosaurs would have been eating the Pachycormus.”
The fossils will be displayed at the Museum in the Park in Stroud.
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