9 ‘Ichthyosaurus’ tenuirostris

3D Model

Ichthyosaurs (‘fish lizards’) were large marine reptiles that inhabited the warm seas that once covered southern England and Europe about 201–185 million years ago. The Crystal Palace sculptures are based on some of the earliest fossils of these creatures ever discovered by Mary Anning on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast in the early 19th century.

Much of the interpretation of the fossil material remains valid today. However, they were fully aquatic so the representation of them only partially submerged and basking or coming ashore is misleading. We now know that they had dorsal fins and crescent-shaped tail fins. They fed on fish and squid.

Today, ‘Ichthyosaurus’ tenuirostris has been renamed Leptonectes tenuirostris. The species has a distinctively long, narrow snout. It is one of the smaller species and the Crystal Palace sculpture is probably oversized relative to the fossil evidence.

Model by HE Geospatial Survey Team ©Historic England