Brisbane, Australia - The fossilised remains of a creature with a striking resemblance to the legendary Loch Ness monster has been discovered in northern Australia, palaentologists announced in Brisbane.
Unlike Nessie, whose existence has never been proved, the five metre long, 700kg plesiosaur found by fishers west of Cairns in northern Queensland was no joke.
It lived in the early Cretaceous period 112 million years ago on a diet of fish and squid in what was once Australia's great inland sea, palaentologist Alex Cook said.
Although its head has not yet been recovered, experts say it is among the most intact fossilised plesiosaurs ever discovered and it is being hailed as the most significant archaelogical discovery in Australia for a decade.
Cook, head of the Queensland Museum's geology and invertebrate section and leader of the eight-member excavation team that recovered it, refused to reveal where it was found for fear the head will be pilfered.
The animal, which had a neck equal in length to the rest of its body and a tiny 30 centimetre long head, is believed to have had a finned tail which helped it swim the ocean waters using four flippers the size of paddles.
The plesiosaur belonged to a family known as Elasmosaurus, or thin-plated lizard.
Its remains were raised from a sedimentary rock grave on the banks of a river after some of its fossilised bones were found last month by two fishers who took them to the museum.
Cook said the animal had probably died of natural causes because it was found belly-up and there were no signs of damage to its bones.
It was regarded as an exciting find because it comes from a critical point in the evolution of two marine animals, he said.
"But the disappointing thing is if we can't get some outside corporate sponsorship to mount a second expedition an important part of Australia's history will be lost."
He said the head could be the key to solving the mysteries surrounding the evolution of creatures during the time period.
It had to be left as the team was forced to evacuate when heavy rain struck and threatened to flood tracks leading out of the remote region.
Five tonnes of rock containing the fossil were moved to Brisbane in the back of the team's four-wheel drive vehicle and went on show on Friday at the Queensland Museum.
A part-time excavator will spend the next 18 months delicately chiselling away at rock surrounding the fossils while plans are made to mount a second expedition to uncover the head.
Cook said the he hoped to take the fossil on a national museum tour once the project was funded.
Australian Museum collection manager Robert Jones described it as "the most complete skeleton to turn up in Australia."
- Sapa-AFP