Jonathan Bow, an amateur fossil hunter unearthed the ichthyosaur on a beach in south Wales.
"Something this large and complete is a once in a lifetime find," said Bow, a computer programmer in Swansea.
Experts believe the discovery could be a "very, very important find," BBC News reported.
Other fossils from the Jurassic period have been unearthed in the area, dating back 200 million years.
Bow said that an inch-long piece of rock caught his attention on a changing tide in September.
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The creatures died out around 25 million years before the extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs and were replaced by plesiosaurs, a long necked marine reptile.
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