A skeleton discovered on England’s famous fossil coast sat unsolved for over two decades.
Experts knew something was special about the strange marine reptile.
And scientists finally solved one mystery that left fossil hunters scratching their heads for 24 years.
Fossil hunter strikes gold on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast
Chris Moore has made a career out of finding ancient treasures along England’s Jurassic Coast, pulling roughly 15 ichthyosaur specimens from the cliffs near Dorset’s Golden Cap over the years.¹
In 2001, Moore discovered something that immediately grabbed his attention.
Unlike most ancient fossils that get crushed flat over millions of years, this skeleton kept its original shape — bones jutting out at natural angles just like they did when the creature was alive.²
"I don’t wish to blow my own ichthyosaur trumpet, but I have found a few of them," Moore told the BBC with characteristic British understatement.³
The Royal Ontario Museum in Canada acquired the fossil shortly after its discovery.
Then the specimen sat in storage for 15 years while experts tried to figure out exactly what Moore had found.
The ‘Sword Dragon of Dorset’ fills crucial gap in evolutionary timeline
Scientists finally identified the ancient marine reptile as an entirely new species in October 2025.
They named it Xiphodracon goldencapensis — the "Sword Dragon of Dorset" — after its long, blade-like snout.⁴
Dr. Dean Lomax from the University of Manchester led the team that cracked the case.
"I thought long and hard about the name," Lomax explained. "We opted for Xiphodracon because of the long, sword-like snout — xipho from Greek xiphos for sword — and dracon, Greek and Latin for dragon, in reference to ichthyosaurs being referred to as ‘sea dragons’ for over 200 years."⁵
The discovery matters because this creature lived during a critical but poorly understood period roughly 193 to 184 million years ago called the Pliensbachian period.⁶
During this time, massive changes swept through ichthyosaur populations.
Giant species that dominated the Late Triassic oceans — some measuring over 80 feet long like modern blue whales — vanished after a mass extinction event roughly 201 million years ago.⁷
Smaller, nimbler ichthyosaurs emerged to fill the ecological vacuum.
But scientists have struggled to understand exactly when and how this transition happened because fossil evidence from the Pliensbachian remains incredibly rare.
"During this time ichthyosaurs are incredibly rare, and Xiphodracon is the most complete individual ever found from there, helping to fill a gap," Lomax stated.⁸
Professor Judy Massare from the State University of New York added context to the discovery’s importance.
"Thousands of complete or nearly complete ichthyosaur skeletons are known from strata before and after the Pliensbachian," Massare noted. "The two faunas are quite distinct, with no species in common, even though the overall ecology is similar. Clearly, a major change in species diversity occurred sometime in the Pliensbachian."⁹
The Sword Dragon it’s claimed proves that evolutionary changes happened earlier and faster than scientists previously thought.
Ancient predator met violent end
The 10-foot-long creature wasn’t just built for speed with its streamlined body and sword-like snout designed for catching fish and squid.¹⁰
Researchers even found stomach contents — fish bones and squid remnants — still lodged in the fossil’s torso.¹¹
But the Sword Dragon’s life ended brutally.
The skull bears deep gouges that tell a violent story — something with massive jaws clamped down on this creature’s head.¹²
Whatever attacked it was substantially bigger, probably another ichthyosaur higher up the food chain.
The fossil also shows deformed teeth and warped limb bones — injuries or diseases the animal carried for years before its violent death.¹³
These details paint a vivid picture of life in Jurassic seas where even apex predators faced constant dangers.
Dr. Erin Maxwell from the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart emphasized how rare this level of preservation is.
"This skeleton provides critical information for understanding ichthyosaur evolution, but also contributes to our understanding of what life must have been like in the Jurassic seas of Britain," Maxwell explained.¹⁴
The fossil includes another peculiar feature never before seen in any ichthyosaur — a strange bone near its nostril with prong-like extensions.¹⁵
Scientists still don’t fully understand what purpose this unique structure served.
Discovery continues legendary fossil-hunting tradition
The Sword Dragon joins a long line of groundbreaking discoveries made along Dorset’s Jurassic Coast.
This UNESCO World Heritage site stretches 95 miles from East Devon to Studland Bay and contains 185 million years of Earth’s history compressed into its cliffs.¹⁶
The area became world-famous in the early 1800s when pioneering paleontologist Mary Anning made the first complete ichthyosaur discovery there at just 12 years old.¹⁷
Anning spent her life hunting fossils along these same beaches to support her family, discovering the first complete plesiosaur and Britain’s first pterosaur despite receiving little credit during her lifetime.¹⁸
The Jurassic Coast continues producing remarkable finds today.
In 2022, Britain’s largest-ever ichthyosaur was discovered in neighboring Rutland — a 33-foot-long specimen from 180 million years ago.¹⁹
Moore himself has featured in multiple BBC documentaries with Sir David Attenborough about his discoveries, including a 2016 find that revealed preserved skin showing countershading patterns similar to modern sharks.²⁰
The new Sword Dragon represents the first newly identified ichthyosaur genus from the region in over 100 years.²¹
That makes it a landmark discovery for understanding how marine ecosystems rebuilt themselves after the end-Triassic mass extinction.
Scientists now know the evolutionary turnover that reshaped Jurassic oceans began earlier than they thought.
But they still don’t understand what caused such dramatic changes in ichthyosaur diversity during the Pliensbachian period.
The Sword Dragon provides crucial evidence for solving that puzzle.
And somewhere along those eroding Dorset cliffs, the next piece of that ancient mystery is waiting to be discovered.
¹ Chris Moore, quoted in "Fossil found on UK coast is unique ‘sword dragon’ species," BBC News, October 2025.
² Dean Lomax et al., "A new long and narrow-snouted ichthyosaur illuminates a complex faunal turnover," Papers in Palaeontology, October 2025.
³ Ibid.
⁴ Ibid.
⁵ Dean Lomax, quoted in "Scientists solve mystery of ‘sword dragon’ skeleton," Fox News, October 22, 2025.
⁶ Ibid.
⁷ "Ichthyosauria," Wikipedia, accessed October 2025.
⁸ Dean Lomax, quoted in "Fossil found on UK coast is unique ‘sword dragon’ species," BBC News, October 2025.
⁹ Judy Massare, quoted in University of Manchester press release, October 2025.
¹⁰ "Scientists solve mystery of ‘sword dragon’ skeleton," Fox News, October 22, 2025.
¹¹ Ibid.
¹² "Fossil found on UK coast is unique ‘sword dragon’ species," BBC News, October 2025.
¹³ Erin Maxwell, quoted in University of Manchester press release, October 2025.
¹⁴ Ibid.
¹⁵ Dean Lomax et al., "A new long and narrow-snouted ichthyosaur," Papers in Palaeontology, October 2025.
¹⁶ "Jurassic Coast," Wikipedia, accessed October 2025.
¹⁷ "Mary Anning’s Ichthyosaur," Oxford University Museum of Natural History, accessed October 2025.
¹⁸ "Mary Anning: the unsung hero of fossil discovery," Natural History Museum, accessed October 2025.
¹⁹ "Britain’s largest ever ichthyosaur is discovered in Rutland Water," Natural History Museum, January 2022.
²⁰ "New species of ichthyosaur found by Dorset fossil collector," Inside Dorset, May 2023.
²¹ University of Manchester press release, October 2025.
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