Following months of deliberations, suggestions and votes, the Herbert Art Gallery has announced its star ichthyosaur skull finally has a name.

After a naming competition was announced earlier in the year, over a hundred suggestions were whittled down to five by a carefully selected panel of judges consisting of hugely respected palaeontologists. These five were then put to the public vote.

The Hebert can now confirm the public have decided to name the specimen Finn.

The person who suggested the winning name is six-year-old Annabelle Elvis, who won with 59 per cent of the vote and wins a special dino-themed goody bag.

Annabelle said: “I thought of the name Finn because the ichthyosaur has a fin it uses to swim! It’s also a bit like a dolphin, and I have a friend called Finn!”

The ichthyosaur display will be updated to feature a plaque containing its new name alongside Annabelle’s.

This specimen, along with tens of others, was found at Harbury Cement Quarry. A well-known Coventry naturalist and member of the Coventry and District Natural History and Scientific Society, EF Nicholls, arranged for the skull to be moved from the quarry to Coventry for display.

This heavy specimen was transported from Harbury by his son, who, tiring of the weight on the saddle of his bike, offloaded his cargo in a ditch at Princethorpe. On returning home he was severely reprimanded by his father and made to return to the ditch the next morning and complete the fossil's journey to Coventry, where it was placed in the Field Club room at Upper York Street.

The Nicholls’s fossil collection was given to the Herbert in 1961, the year after the museum opened. This specimen was a key part of its natural science displays from 2008 to 2020 and is now the central piece in its Warwickshire Jurassic Sea display alongside Dippy in the Covered Court.

For more information, visit: theherbert.org