A year 10 student has discovered six vertebrae from the "Ichthyosaur" while laying out a vegetable garden at his school, the Richmond State School, in the northwest of Queensland. The curator of the local fossil museum "Kronosaurus Korner" said the ichthysosaurs were prolific in the area from the end of the Jurassic period through to the early Cretaceous period. They were the wilderbeasts of the Cretaceous inland sea. The creature looked like a cross between a dolphin and a shark and could grow to about 8 metres. They had some of the largest eyes in the animal kingdom, allowing them to dive to the dark depths of the inland sea to hunt squid! This particular find was from a mature adult ichthyosaur.
The skull of an ichthyosaur
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What an incredible find for a young student - 100 million years after the beasts roamed the inland sea. The fossils found are on display at the school, and the "vegie patch" has been relocated for now. They would really like to find it's skull. The Richmond area is famous for its fossils.
