"The benefit of using x-rays to study these prehistoric animals is that it does not damage the fossil, which is incredibly important when dealing with valuable and delicate specimens such as Eric." "Our research employed very powerful x-rays to help us see the animal's stomach contents in never-before-seen detail, including finding fish bones in its gut. "We believe our study is the first in Australia to use x-rays to study the gut contents of a prehistoric marine reptile. "But this approach can be difficult and limiting as fossilised stomach contents are rare to find and there can more hidden beneath the surface that would be near impossible for palaeontologists to see without destroying the fossil. "Previous studies examined the exterior surface of Eric's opalised skeleton to find clues," PhD researcher Joshua White, from the ANU Research School of Physics and the AMRI, said. According to the researchers, the study demonstrates the potential to use x-rays to reconstruct the diets of other extinct organisms that inhabited Earth hundreds of millions of years ago. The findings could help scientists learn more about the evolutionary history of extinct organisms such as Eric, as well as help predict what the future might look like for our marine life. The researchers were able to find 17 previously undescribed fish vertebrae inside Eric's gut, confirming the plesiosaur's diet consisted mostly of fish - reinforcing findings from previous studies conducted in 2006. The researchers used micro-CT scans to peer inside the fossilised stomach remains of a small marine reptile - a plesiosaur nicknamed 'Eric' after a song from the comedy group Monty Python - to determine what the creature ate in the lead up to its death.
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