Minamisanriku-cho , Japan is a renowned place which has yielded a number of fossils of ichthyosaurs and the holotype specimen of '' Utatsusaurus '' . A museum ( called Gyoryū-kan ( 魚竜館 ) , literally translating as “ a house of fish-dragons ” ) was built to keep and display those fossils , and over sixty thousand people had visited there a year . However , on Friday 11 March 2011 , the museum was destroyed during the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami . At the time of the earthquake , the fossils of '' Utatsusaurus '' were kept at another place , and the majority of the other fossils displayed at the museum were salvaged , but the museum , itself has not yet been restored and reopened yet
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
Utatsusaurus