A 200-million-year-old fish jawbone discovered by an amateur fossil hunter in Wales has helped palaeontologists resolve two centuries of confusion over the origins of fossils found across Europe.
Fossilised teeth from around the Bristol Channel and other European locations had previously been grouped as a single type of large ancient fish, Severnichthys. However, the jawbone found by Jonathan Bow on the Welsh side of the channel belonged to a different species, Saurichthys.
This discovery led experts to conclude that fossils in museums across the continent had been incorrectly categorised and are, in fact, composed of two distinct species: Saurichthys and Birgeria. The Saurichthys bone, found at Lavernock, is set to go on display at National Museum Cardiff later in 2026.
Researchers from Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales, State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, and the University of Bristol collaborated on the detailed inspection of the fossil. They identified it as belonging to Saurichthys, a predatory fish that inhabited shallow tropical seas during the Late Triassic period.
Cindy Howells, a curator at Museum Wales, noted that many Saurichthys teeth were once mistaken for amphibian teeth, a misunderstanding that persisted into the 20th Century. Dr Sam Cooper, a co-author of the scientific paper comparing the fossil with others across Europe, stated that the single fossil found by Bow has helped to clarify nearly 200 years of confusion.