TWO University of Portsmouth students who founded a fossil finding group on the Isle of Wight have made their biggest discovery yet.

It took Jack Wonfor and Theo Vickers — co-founders of Wight Coast Fossils — ten hours to recover their newest specimen, a large example of a Tropaeum Bowerbanki ammonite.

The fossil was found on the remote shores of Chale Bay and dates back around 115 million years, when the area was a warm coastal sea teeming with life, including ammonites, nautiloids, fish, sharks and marine reptiles.

It took two hours of careful chiselling to remove the fossil from its surrounding rock, with an additional eight hours spent hauling the ammonite to be observed at close quarters.

The specimen weighs 211 pounds (96kg).

Jack said: “An ammonite of this size is likely to be a female known as a macroconch.

“Females are larger as a result of the role they play in the reproductive process. Because of this, its size it is an amazing example to show sexual dimorphism within ammonites.

“Over the next few weeks I will carefully be removing the surrounding rock to reveal the rest of the ammonite that lays within.”

The pair have found themselves busy during lockdown.

In addition to Wight Coast Fossils, Jack is studying vertebrate palaeontology and Theo is taking a course in marine biology.

To follow Jack and Theo’s progress, head to www.facebook.com/WightCoastFossils/