320 million-year-old fish skull found in Yorkshire beauty spot

The well-preserved, prehistoric skull bone of a coelacanth was discovered by a geologist at Roundhay Park earlier this year after being frozen in time aeons ago, during an era when the park was submerged under a vast tropical lagoon.

The incredible find has been donated to Leeds Museums and Galleries and added to the natural sciences collection at Leeds Discovery Centre.

The exact location of the find is not being disclosed to deter amateur fossil hunters.

The fossil was found by Ru Smith of the Yorkshire Geological Society during a reconnaissance walk ahead of a planned field excursion.

Mr Smith said: “Coelacanths are pretty amazing fish and it’s just very cool to think that at one time, you could have been standing in Leeds and watching them swim around above a bed of mussels.”