Hay River (Oct 02/06) - A significant fossil find south of Hay River has taken a curious route to its proper place in the annals of science.

The ichthyosaur fossils were discovered in 1971, but were forgotten in boxes under a ping-pong table in a University of Alberta lab until 2002.

Dr. Michael Caldwell, an associate professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, stands behind a large slab of rock containing an ichthyosaur fossil discovered in the 1970s near Hay River. - photo courtesy of Dr. Michael Caldwell

Dr. Michael Caldwell, an associate professor of paleontology, renovated the lab and rediscovered the fossils.

"We didn't know we had them, at all," Caldwell said. "It was quite a shocking surprise."

The significance of the fossils has been described in a recent issue of The Journal of Paleontology, a respected international magazine.

The ichthyosaur was a reptile that looked somewhat like a dolphin, even though the two species were completely unrelated.

The creature, which was not a dinosaur, had a long snout, big eyes, dorsal fins, limbs with paddles on the ends, and a tail with a big fin.

The fossils were discovered on the Hay River, just north of the NWT/Alberta border, by a technician and graduate students from the University of Alberta.

"The slabs were quite large and they got stuck under the ping-pong table," Caldwell said, noting they hadn't moved in about 30 years before being rediscovered.

Before the renovations, the table was used to display the fossilized specimens.

Caldwell said misplacing items are common at universities around the world. "You find this everywhere."

There are eight individual ichthyosaur fossils in the collection.

Caldwell explained the fossils are unique and "extremely important" in several ways.

First, they were found in rock dating back about 100 million years, making them some of the youngest ichthyosaur fossils ever found, he said. "That is just about the time ichthyosaurs were going extinct."

The fossils are also very far north for a reptile, he noted. "Reptiles usually don't tolerate cold water."

One hundred million years ago, the area was part of the Western Interior Seaway, which stretched from the Mackenzie Delta to the Gulf of Mexico.

"The third thing is one of the individuals was pregnant," Caldwell said, noting there are two fossilized embryos.

The find also includes at least one new genus and species, which has been named maiaspondylus lindoei after Allan Lindoe, who led the expedition in the 1970s.

Caldwell, Lindoe and scientists from Australia are planning to come north in the spring to search for the exact location where the fossils were found. They will seek any other fossils that may be in the area.