Rosa Rubicondior: Refuting Creationism - A Japanese Ichthyosaur - From 220 Million Years Before 'Creation Week'

Tuesday, 26 August 2025

Refuting Creationism - A Japanese Ichthyosaur - From 220 Million Years Before 'Creation Week'

CT cross-sectional image of the fossil-bearing rock block

Bone parts identified from CT scan cross-sections

A Chance Spotting of a Fossil Results in a Major Scientific Discovery. Ichthyosaur Fossil Confirmed for the First Time in Western Japan — Also the First Late Triassic Ichthyosaur Found in Japan | NEWS & TOPICS | Okayama University of Science

Today's casual refutation of creationism is not the result of scientists deliberately setting out to discredit Bible mythology, but comes instead as an incidental by-product of scientific discovery. Once again, the facts uncovered by science simply could not be true if the biblical narrative were correct.

This time the evidence is a fossilised Late Triassic ichthyosaur, embedded in 220-million-year-old rocks. That date alone places the animal in the unimaginably vast span of Earth’s history long before creationist mythology claims the universe, the Earth, and all life were conjured into existence ex nihilo by a pre-existing deity muttering magic words. In reality, this ichthyosaur lived during the 99.9975% of history that biblical literalism must pretend never happened.

Evolution of the Ichthyosaurs. Early Origins (Early Triassic, ~250–247 million years ago)

Ichthyosaurs first appeared shortly after the end-Permian extinction, the most severe mass extinction in Earth’s history.
The earliest forms, such as Utatsusaurus
(found in Japan and Canada), were long-bodied, eel-like, and probably swam with undulating movements, rather than the powerful tail-driven propulsion of later ichthyosaurs.

Diversification (Middle Triassic, ~247–237 million years ago)

Rapid evolutionary radiation produced many forms, ranging from small lizard-like species to large-bodied swimmers.
Notable genera include Mixosaurus, transitional between early eel-like forms and later dolphin-like ichthyosaurs.
By this time, ichthyosaurs had already evolved live birth (ovoviviparity), a key adaptation for fully marine life.

Peak Adaptation (Late Triassic, ~237–201 million years ago)

Advanced ichthyosaurs became streamlined, tuna- or dolphin-shaped, with crescent-shaped tails for efficient high-speed swimming.
Top predators such as Shonisaurus
reached gigantic sizes (up to 21 metres).
This is the era of the recent Japanese discovery (Norian stage, ~227–206 Ma), when ichthyosaurs were evolving into open-ocean specialists.

Golden Age (Early–Middle Jurassic, ~201–163 million years ago)

Ichthyosaurs thrived in the Jurassic seas alongside plesiosaurs.
Species like Stenopterygius
and Ophthalmosaurus
had huge eyes for hunting in dim light and were among the fastest swimmers.
They were diverse, abundant, and globally distributed.

Decline (Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous, ~163–100 million years ago)

Competition from plesiosaurs, pliosaurs, and later mosasaurs began to reduce ichthyosaur diversity.
By the Early Cretaceous, only a few specialised forms (e.g., Platypterygius) remained.

Extinction (Mid-Cretaceous, ~95 million years ago)

The last ichthyosaurs vanished around the Cenomanian stage, roughly 94–90 million years ago, well before the end-Cretaceous extinction that wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs.
Their disappearance may have been due to ecological competition, environmental changes, or food web disruptions.

Summary

Origin: ~250 Ma (Early Triassic)
Peak: 201–163 Ma (Early to Middle Jurassic)
Extinction: ~94–90 Ma (Mid-Cretaceous)
So, ichthyosaurs ruled the seas for about 160 million years — far longer than humans have existed.

The fossil was identified in the Nariwa Museum of Art in Takahashi City, Japan, where it had been displayed as a specimen of Monotis, a Late Triassic index fossil bivalve. Professor Takafumi Kato of the Department of Dinosaur Palaeontology, Okayama University of Science, along with his colleague Dr Hirokazu Yukawa of the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum, spotted the tell-tale structure of a reptile bone while leading a high school field programme. The fossil showed the characteristic thin layer of compact bone overlying a spongy interior, confirming it belonged to a marine reptile.

The discovery was formally announced by Professor Kato at the annual meeting of the Palaeontological Society of Japan, held on 29 June at Hokkaido University.

The scientific significance is considerable: this is the first Late Triassic ichthyosaur ever found in western Japan. Dr Ryosuke Motani, a leading authority on ichthyosaurs at the University of California, Davis, explained:

Professor Kato closely examines the ichthyosaur fossil – at Takahashi City Hall

A Closer Look at a Rock That Made Paleontological History

The Norian age represents a critical transition in ichthyosaur evolution, when open-ocean species were nearly fully developed from their coastal ancestors. However, ichthyosaur fossils from this era are extremely rare globally, with well-preserved examples only known from British Columbia, Canada. The fact that one has now been found in Japan suggests that these advanced ichthyosaurs may have been capable of crossing the Panthalassic Ocean, which was even larger than today’s Pacific. This is a highly significant finding.

The Norian stage spanned roughly 227–206 million years ago. At that time, Earth was dominated by the supercontinent Pangaea, surrounded by the vast Panthalassic Ocean.

Now compare this evidence to the Bible’s account of life’s creation. The anonymous authors, with no knowledge of Earth’s deep geological history, could not have conceived of a world with a supercontinent, a global ocean, or reptiles evolving from coastal dwellers into open-ocean travellers capable of crossing an ocean larger than today’s Pacific. They had no understanding of plate tectonics, continental drift, or how today’s continents and mountain ranges are the broken fragments of Pangaea in motion.

Instead, they wrote from a narrow, parochial perspective, describing a flat world under a dome of sky, crafted in a few days by divine fiat—a story utterly at odds with the evidence still being uncovered by science.

And so, with no intention of addressing creationist myths, science once again provides a quiet but powerful refutation of them. Every new discovery, whether fossil, genetic, or geological, adds another page to the true history of our planet—one written in reality, not mythology.

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