Colossal Pliosaur Sea Monster Skull on Display in Dorset

Dorset, 2 Jan (ONA) --- The skull of a colossal sea monster that was unearthed from the Jurassic Coast is going on display.

The 2m-long fossil belongs to a pliosaur - one of the most fearsome predators the planet has ever seen.

Sir David Attenborough investigated the discovery in a BBC film which aired on New Year's Day, BBC news reported.

The public can see the 150-million-year-old marine reptile at the Etches Collection in Kimmeridge in Dorset, a county in southwest England, close to where the beast was found.

The rest of its skeleton may still be entombed in the crumbling cliffs. The hope is it may eventually be recovered.

The snout of the pliosaur was discovered by a fossil enthusiast on a beach near Kimmeridge Bay.

The rest of its skull was extracted from half-way down a fast-eroding cliff face by a team precariously dangling from ropes.

Steve Etches led the effort to remove and prepare the fossil.

It's now being unveiled at the museum that bears his name, sitting alongside the Jurassic fossils he's spent a lifetime collecting.

The pliosaur skull is one of the most complete specimens ever found and it is exquisitely preserved.

It doesn't take much imagination to see that this would have been the ultimate killing machine.

Its enormous crocodile-like jaw is packed with 130 razor sharp teeth, and cavernous holes on either side of the skull would have been filled with huge muscles.

--- Ends/Khalid