An ancient fossil found by a girl and her father on a beach in England belongs to a creature that might have been among the largest animals ever on Earth.

一个女孩和她的父亲在英格兰的海滩上发现了一块古老的化石，属于一种可能是地球上最大的动物之一的生物。

Researchers said in a recent study that the fossilized bone, called a surangular, was from a reptile called an ichthyosaur that lived in the sea. Based on its size, compared to the same bone in closely related ichthyosaurs, the researchers estimated that the creature was between 22 and 26 meters long. They named it Ichthyotitan severnensis.

研究人员在最近的一项研究中表示，这块被称为“苏拉格”的骨骼化石来自一种生活在海中的鱼龙爬行动物。 根据其大小，与密切相关的鱼龙的同一块骨头相比，研究人员估计该生物的长度在 22 至 26 米之间。 他们将其命名为 Ichthyotitan severnensis。

That would make it possibly the largest known marine reptile. Its size would be close to the largest whales alive today. The blue whale, considered the largest animal ever to have lived, can reach about 30 meters in length.

这将使它可能成为已知最大的海洋爬行动物。 它的大小接近当今现存最大的鲸鱼。 蓝鲸被认为是有史以来最大的动物，体长可达 30 米左右。

Marine reptiles lived in the world's oceans at the same time that dinosaurs lived on the land. Ichthyosaurs disappeared 90 million years ago. They came in several sizes. The creatures ate fish and other sea animals.

海洋爬行动物生活在世界各地的海洋中，同时恐龙生活在陆地上。 鱼龙在九千万年前就消失了。 它们有多种尺寸。 这些生物吃鱼和其他海洋动物。

Ichthyotitan, however, is known only from two jawbones. The jaw forms the lower part of the mouth.

然而，鱼泰坦仅通过两块颌骨而被了解。 下颌形成嘴的下部。

Ruby Reynolds and her father Justin Reynolds found one of the bones in 2020 at Blue Anchor in Somerset. The other bone is from a different Ichthyotitan individual found in 2016, along the Somerset coast at Lilstock.

鲁比·雷诺兹 (Ruby Reynolds) 和她的父亲贾斯汀·雷诺兹 (Justin Reynolds) 于 2020 年在萨默塞特郡的蓝锚发现了其中一根骨头。 另一块骨头来自于 2016 年在利尔斯托克萨默塞特海岸发现的另一个鱼泰坦个体。

Dean Lomax was the lead writer of the study published recently in PLOS ONE. Lomax said, "It is quite remarkable to think that gigantic, blue whale-sized ichthyosaurs were swimming in the oceans around the time that dinosaurs were walking on land in what is now the UK (Britain) during the Triassic Period.”

Dean Lomax 是最近在 PLOS ONE 上发表的这项研究的主要作者。 洛马克斯说：“在三叠纪时期，在现在的英国，恐龙在陆地上行走的时候，巨大的蓝鲸大小的鱼龙正在海洋中游泳，这是非常值得注意的。”

The Triassic Period describes a time over 200 million years ago.

三叠纪描述的是两亿多年前的一段时期。

Ruby Reynolds was 11 at the time she and her father discovered the fossil surangular bone on the beach. Ruby continued to search the area and found a second piece - much larger than the first - partly buried in the ground. They then contacted Lomax, an ichthyosaur expert, and more parts of the bone were unearthed.

鲁比·雷诺兹 (Ruby Reynolds) 和父亲在海滩上发现了角骨化石时，她才 11 岁。 鲁比继续搜寻该地区，发现了第二块——比第一块大得多——部分埋在地下。 随后他们联系了鱼龙专家洛马克斯，更多的骨头部分被挖掘出来。

Ruby’s part in the discovery has led to comparisons with Mary Anning. Anning was a 19th century British fossil hunter who, among other things, discovered ichthyosaur fossils when she was 12.

鲁比在这一发现中所扮演的角色导致人们将其与玛丽·安宁进行比较。 安宁是一位 19 世纪的英国化石猎人，她在 12 岁时发现了鱼龙化石。

"I think Mary Anning was an incredible paleontologist, and it's amazing to be compared to her," Ruby said.

“我认为玛丽·安宁是一位令人难以置信的古生物学家，与她相比真是太棒了，”鲁比说。

Justin Reynolds added, "It has been an amazing...and fun experience to work with these experts, and we are proud to be part of the team and co-authors of a scientific paper which names a new species and genus.”

贾斯汀·雷诺兹补充道：“与这些专家一起工作是一次令人惊叹……且有趣的经历，我们很自豪能够成为该团队的一员以及一篇命名新物种和属的科学论文的合著者。”

Fossil collector Paul de la Salle found the 2016 remains now identified as Ichthyotitan.

化石收藏家 Paul de la Salle 发现了 2016 年的遗骸，现已确定为鱼泰坦。

The big marine reptile was a member of a family of giant ichthyosaurs called Shastasauridae. These creatures lived 13 million years later than other ichthyosaurs. They survived until a world-wide event caused many kinds of animals to disappear about 201 million years ago at the end of the Triassic Period.

这种大型海洋爬行动物是巨型鱼龙科沙斯塔龙科的成员。 这些生物比其他鱼龙活得晚 1300 万年。 它们一直存活到大约2.01亿年前三叠纪末期，一场世界范围的事件导致多种动物消失。

No other fossils from Ichthyotitan have been discovered. But the researchers have been able to guess at its appearance based on other members of its family, including Shonisaurus from British Columbia, Canada.

尚未发现其他鱼泰坦化石。 但研究人员已经能够根据其家族的其他成员（包括来自加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省的绍尼龙）来猜测它的外观。

Study co-writer Jimmy Waldron used the term humbled – meaning to be made to feel less important or proud – to describe the discoveries.

研究报告的合著者吉米·沃尔德伦（Jimmy Waldron）用“谦卑”这个词来形容这些发现，意思是让自己感觉不那么重要或不那么自豪。

Waldron said, "Discoveries like this create incredible moments where we become humbled at our size and place in the world.”

沃尔德伦说：“这样的发现创造了令人难以置信的时刻，让我们对自己的规模和在世界上的地位感到谦卑。”