Fossil from paddleboard-sized fish found after being mistaken for flying reptile

An example of what a complete coelacanth fossil looks like. Picture: University of Portsmouth/PA

Fossilised remains of a fish that grew as big as a great white shark have been discovered after a fossil collector mistook them for a giant flying reptile.

The find by scientists from the University of Portsmouth is a species of the so-called “living fossil” coelacanths which still swim in the seas, surviving the extinction that killed off the dinosaurs.