sea

Fossil discovery: Extraordinary ‘big-mouthed’ fish from Cretaceous Period

Animal evolution: Sponges really are oldest animal phylum

Who came first — sponges or comb jellies? A new study by an team of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich reaffirms that sponges are the oldest animal phylum — and restores the classical view of early animal evolution, which recent molecular analyses had challenged. The answer to the question of whether the sponges or the comb … Continue reading →

Meet pentecopterus, a giant sea scorpion; Predator from prehistoric seas

You don’t name a sea creature after an ancient Greek warship unless it’s built like a predator. That’s certainly true of the recently discovered Pentecopterus, a giant sea scorpion with the sleek features of a penteconter, one of the first Greek galley ships. A Yale University research team says Pentecopterus lived 467 million years ago … Continue reading →

Evidence of ancient life discovered in mantle rocks deep below the seafloor

Ancient rocks harbored microbial life deep below the seafloor, reports a team of scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Virginia Tech, and the University of Bremen. This new evidence was contained in drilled rock samples of Earth’s mantle — thrust by tectonic forces to the seafloor during the Early Cretaceous period. The new … Continue reading →

Spectacular Moroccan fossils redefine evolutionary timelines

Some of the oldest marine animals on the planet, including armoured worm-like forms and giant, lobster like sea creatures, survived millions of years longer than previously thought, according to a spectacularly preserved fossil formation from southeastern Morocco. The Lower Fezouata formation has been revealing exciting discoveries about life in the Ordovician — around 485 – … Continue reading →