Fossil prep: Rare baby plesiosaur fossil discovered!

A while back I found this bone cluster and managed to carry it home. I started off prepping it with my air scribes and removed a fair bit of rock. Unfortunately, there wasn't good separation between the rock and the fossil - it was really "sticky" - so I did the final bit of prep using some vinegar to dissolve the rock. The acid prep took around 2 weeks.

I sent photos of the bones to a paleontologist specializing in marine reptiles from the Cretaceous era of New Zealand and he ID'd it as a juvenile plesiosaurus, probably and elasmosaurus. According to him, it's only the third bones of this type of elasmosaurus found in New Zealand so a pretty rare find!

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