Showing off Eric

This must have been around 1989 when I took some friends from down the street into the Australian Museum to view Eric, the opalised Plesiosaur. I had not long finished cleaning Eric and putting him back together and was so proud of him, I just wanted to show him off to anyone and everyone! (and how did I know it was a ‘he’? Because his name was Eric!)

Eric went on to be described as a new genus and species of plesiosaur Umoonasaurusdemoscyllus. This was the most amazing job I’ve ever had! I’ll never forget moments like when I was cleaning in the stomach area and came across the bones of the last fish he ate all those years ago. He also is one of very few plesiosaur specimens from the early Cretaceous that still has the skull attached.

A National Treasure (Australian Museum Blog):
https://australian.museum/blog/museullaneous/a-national-treasure/