尼斯湖怪一直是一个谜，到底存在不存在湖怪，如果存在的话湖怪到底是什么动物，这些谜团都笼罩在世人的心头。近日，英国考古学家取得重突破，他们发现了类似尼斯湖怪的生物化石。科学家进而推断这种动物2亿年前生活在在英吉利海峡中。
据报道这一重考古发现发生在英国多塞特郡的海滨城市莱姆里杰斯(Lyme Regis)，在这座城市有世界自然遗产“侏罗纪海岸”。考古学家正是在侏罗纪海岸的石灰石岩中发现了类似尼斯湖怪的生物化石，这令他们兴奋不已。考古学家花费数月时间把数十块骨骼化石拼装起来，试图还原这只长12英尺(约3.6米)的蛇颈龙。这种海洋两栖动物长有细细的长脖颈和细长尾巴，四个巨的阔鳍，像剃刀一样锋利的牙齿，以捕食其他海洋动物为生。
蛇颈龙生活在距今约1.5亿年到2亿年之前，当时是侏罗纪时代。当时的英吉利海峡是水位不深的热带海洋。遗骸是由化石专家特蕾西-马勒在莱姆里杰斯附近的蒙默思海滩岩石下发现的。她先是在石灰岩中发现了一块骨骼。后来她和她的搭档、化石专家克里斯-摩尔又返回蒙默思海滩，结果又找到了四块骨骼。
专家们仔细研究了这种古生物的骨骼，惊奇地发现一种食肉恐龙对“湖怪”的尸体进行了咬啮，因为其骨骼上留下了恐龙的齿印。经过进一步发掘，共找到了150块椎骨和部分头骨和颚骨，颚骨上还留有一颗牙齿。
摩尔表示,“骨骼上边留有齿印，这具尸骨曾经被其他凶狠的海洋两栖动物撕咬成两半。”摩尔说撕咬蛇颈龙尸体的可能是食肉的鱼龙。
埃德蒙斯说，“蛇颈龙遗骸非常罕见，目前全世界已知的只有10具完整的或部分蛇颈龙遗骸化石。我为此工作了30多年只发现了这唯一一具蛇颈龙骨骼化石。”
据悉这具完整程度达到70%的蛇颈龙化石有望在莱姆里杰斯博物馆展出，届时公众有机会见识这种类似尼斯湖怪的古生物的面目。
It roamed the English channel more than 200 million years ago.
And now the prehistoric monster has surfaced once more - in the limestone of Lyme Regis's famous 'Jurassic Coast'.
Excited archaeologists discovered the Loch Ness-style creature on the beach and have spent months piecing together a giant jigsaw composed of dozens of old bones to reveal the 12ft-long plesiosaur.
The marine reptile hunted the oceans with a long thin neck and tail, four large flippers and razor-sharp teeth.
It existed during the Jurassic period about 150 to 200 million years ago when what is now the Channel was a shallow, tropical sea.
The remains were discovered by fossil hunter Tracey Marler under rocks on Monmouth Beach near Lyme Regis, Dorset.
She first found a single bone in limestone. She and partner Chris Moore, an expert in fossils, returned to the scene and they found four more bones.
As experts examined the bones in detail, they were surprised to see teeth marks from where a predator dinosaur would have feasted on the carcass of the 'lake monster'.
Fragments: The skeleton is 70 per cent complete and will soon go on display to the public
After further excavation about 150 vertebrae bones and parts of its skull and jaw, with one tooth remaining, were uncovered.
Mr Moore said: 'It came out in pieces but you could clearly see how it looked.
'The tail bone was in position, and some of the back bones were completely in place where they should be and the neck bone was there as well.
'You could see some of the bones had actually been chewed up a bit.
'There are teeth marks and you can see how the skeleton had been torn apart by some other nasty marine reptile.'
Mr Moore added: 'Their predator would have been the ichthyosaur which was carnivorous.'
Natural England worked closely with the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site team to carefully extract the fossils.
The alternative of leaving it could have led to it being destroyed by ill-informed collectors or eventually being washed away and eroded by the sea.
Richard Edmonds, science manager for the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, said: 'There was a risk that we could have damaged the pavement by the act of removing the fossil.
'Plesiosaur remains are rare. There are only 10 known examples of complete or even partial skeletons of this species.
'I have been doing this for 30-odd years and I have only ever found the odd bone.
'The specimen could not have been in a more sensitive location, in the famous and iconic ammonite pavement.'
It is hoped the skeleton, which is 70 per cent complete, will go on public display at the Lyme Regis Museum.