1.35" Ichthyosaur Vertebrae In Matrix - Somerset, England

This is a 1.35" wide Ichthyosaur vertebrae collected in Somerset, England. It is still partially embedded in the shale in which it was found.

Ichthyosaurs ("Fish Lizard") was a giant marine reptile which thrived from much of the Mesozoic era. They evolved in the mid Triassic from a group of unidentified land reptiles which transition back into the water. This line evolved in parallel to the ancestors of todays dolphins and whales, something known as convergent evolution.