A fossil found on the Asturian coast confirms that Ichthyosaurus anningae lived beyond its previously known range in the United Kingdom. Discovered on the cliffs of Vega beach in Ribadesella, the specimen is about two metres long and is the largest example of the species recorded so far.
The find followed nearly twenty years of work. José Antonio Sánchez Feliz, a Madrid resident, first spotted the fossil in 2009, embedded in the dark grey marl of the Formación Rodiles, a geological layer from the Early Jurassic. Extracting and preparing it proved difficult: the bones, especially those of the skull, were fragile and needed careful laboratory work to recover and preserve.
Researchers identified the fossil as Ichthyosaurus anningae by analyzing the humerus and distinctive skull features. Until now, the species was known only from southern England. Comparison with British specimens confirmed the identification and showed that the Asturian individual was a fully grown adult, larger than any previously found. RTVE and other scientific sources report this as the first independent confirmation of the species outside the UK. The findings appeared in Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.
The fossil’s teeth are strong and moderately conical, with rounded tips, suggesting a generalist diet. They differ from the slender, finely striated teeth of Leptonectes, another ichthyosaur found in Asturias that likely ate mostly fish. The contrast points to a more varied marine environment in the region’s Jurassic seas than previously thought. These dental features suggest Ichthyosaurus anningae occupied a different ecological role, supporting the idea that Early Jurassic marine reptiles in northern Spain divided up available food sources.
Researchers reconstructed parts of the skull, including the eye socket, along with vertebrae, ribs and sections of the left fin. The sediment where the animal was buried suggests it lived on a muddy, low-oxygen seabed less than 100 metres deep, alongside other marine reptiles such as plesiosaurs. Ammonite fossils from the same layer helped date the specimen to the Pliensbachian stage, about 192 million years ago.
Ichthyosaur fossils from this Jurassic period are rare worldwide, making the Asturian specimen a valuable addition to the picture of ancient marine life in northern Spain. The work brought together the Museo del Jurásico de Asturias (MUJA), Argentina’s Museo de La Plata and CONICET, as well as the Rochester Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology in the United States. The findings appeared in Acta Palaeontologica Polonica and were confirmed by several international research teams.
MUJA’s collection is regarded as Europe’s leading museum collection of dinosaur footprints, with over 700 specimens, and ranks third largest in the world. The museum also holds unique pterosaur tracks, some preserving skin impressions, as well as the only known Jurassic lizard footprint. Its collection now includes more than 5,500 items. Experts expect the so-called ‘dinosaur coast’ from Gijón to Ribadesella to yield further finds.
The newly identified Ichthyosaurus anningae will remain in the museum’s lithotheque for now, while a detailed reconstruction lets visitors see its size and shape. The discovery adds to Asturias’s standing as a site for Jurassic research and expands scientific knowledge of prehistoric marine life in the region.
