A FOSSILISED skull of one of the largest predators ever known has been discovered on the Dorset coast.

The skull of a pliosaur, a giant marine reptile that roamed the depths of the ocean around 150 million years ago, has been unveiled after it was unearthed by a fossil collector near Weymouth.

Kevan Sheehan, from Osmington, who spent four years working to recover his find, sold it for £20,000.

It was secured by the county council using cash from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The precise location of the discovery is being kept under wraps as Dorset County Council don’t want crowds of fossil collectors overwhelming an area that is prone to landslides. Mr Sheehan said: “In 40 years of collecting I have often been green with envy at some of the finds other people have made.

“But now when someone shows me a find I can say: ‘that’s not a fossil – this pliosaur, that’s a fossil!”

Experts claim the specimen is the largest complete pliosaur skull ever discovered and could be of ‘international importance’ to palaeontology.

The skull, which will eventually go on display at the Dorset County Museum, is over two metres long and it is believed the creature it came from could have measured up to 16m in length.

Pliosaur palaeontologist Richard Forrest said: “It is an extraordinary find.

“There are probably half a dozen specimens of this size in the world and this is the biggest complete pliosaur skull from anywhere in the world.

“It’s not just of national importance, it’s of international importance. It’s going to tell us an awful lot about the biology of pliosaurs.”

Mr Forrest said the skull gave an insight into the immense size of this powerful beast. He said: “Although the remains of other very large pliosaur have been found they are often crushed into thousands of tiny pieces.

“Here we have a complete skull and we can see it was 2.4 metres long.

“From that we can get a pretty good idea of the overall size of the animal, which was around 12 to 16m long.

“It has an enormously powerful bite and is probably one of the most powerful predators of all time.”

After funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund as well as Dorset and Devon County Councils the fossil will now be cleaned and prepared for display at the Dorset County Museum.