It’s not Nessie, but a team of researchers found a fossil of a prehistoric long-necked aquatic dinosaur in southern China, the National Museums of Scotland announced Friday.
The 240 million-year-old fossil of the species Dinocephalosaurus orientalis, dating to the Triassic period, was found in China’s Guizhou province. It had flippered limbs and an oceanic diet consisting primarily of fish.
While the species was discovered in 2003, the new fossil let scientists depict the creature fully for the first time, Scottish museum officials said. For example, the creature had 32 distinct vertebrae, making for the long neck.
The Dinocephalosaurus orientalis was not closely related to the dinosaurs that inspired the myth of the Loch Ness Monster, nicknamed Nessie, predating it by 40 million years.
“This discovery allows us to see this remarkable long-necked animal in full for the very first time. … We are certain that it will capture imaginations across the globe due to its striking appearance, reminiscent of the long and snakelike, mythical Chinese dragon,” Nick Frasier, keeper of natural sciences, said in the museum’s release.
The species’ skull grew as large as 9 inches long, according to CBS News. In a study put out by the researchers through Cambridge University Press, they said the skeleton after the skull was over 19 feet long.