The world’s oldest starfish, made 480 million years ago, is unearthed in Morocco and provides the “lost link” between modern crinoids and their ancestors.
- The fossil specimen was unearthed from the shale rock of the Anti-Atlas Mountains.
- Experts have named the newly identified species “Cantabrigiaster fezouataensis”
- It had five plumed arms wider than those of modern starfish
- The discovery may help shed light on how starfish and related animals evolved
A fossil starfish unearthed in Morocco dating back 480 million years is a “lost link” between today’s crinoids and their ancestors, according to a study.
Cambridge experts said the fossil, discovered from the so-called Fezouata shale of the Anti-Atlas Range, is the oldest starfish.
It dates back to a period in Earth’s history – the so-called Ordovician biodiversity event – when life suddenly expanded.
The researchers said the previous candidate for the oldest recorded starfish specimen was 50 million years younger.
With the scientific name of “Cantabrigiaster fezouataensis”, the ancient species has an intricate design, with the feathery arms still visible in its fossil specimens.
The beautifully preserved remains will allow paleontologists to trace the body of the new species in detail and shed light on the evolution of starfish.
A fossil sea study (pictured) unearthed in Morocco dating back 480 million years is a “link” between today’s crinoids and their ancestors, according to a study
“Finding that missing link with their ancestors is incredibly exciting,” said evolutionary paleoecologist Aaron Hunter of Cambridge University.
“If I went back in time and put my head under the sea in the Ordovician, I would not recognize any of the marine organisms except the starfish, they are one of the first modern animals.”
According to researchers, C. fezouataensis lacks about 60 percent of the body plane characteristics of a modern starfish, rather it looks like a hybrid between a starfish and a crinoid, or “sea lily.” .
Sea lilies are filters with wavy arms that resemble plants in which they are attached to the seabed by a cylindrical “stem”.
“The level of detail of the fossil is incredible: its structure is so complex that it took us a while to discover its importance,” Dr. Hunter said.
In their study, Dr. Hunter and his colleague Javier Ortega-Hernandez, who was previously also from Cambridge, now based at Harvard University in the United States, examined a catalog of hundreds of star-like animals. of sea next to C. fezouataensis
They indexed all their body characteristics to assess how the fossil species related to other members of the echinoderm family, a diverse group including sea cucumbers and starfish.
Like most modern species, the fossil has five times its symmetry, but this ancestral form had broad arms that had almost a pentagonal outline.
The team plans to expand its work in search of other early echinoderms.
Cantabrigiaster fezouataensis dates back to a period in Earth’s history, the so-called Ordovician biodiversity event, when life suddenly expanded.
According to researchers, C. fezouataensis lacks about 60 percent of the body plane characteristics of a modern starfish; instead, it looks like a hybrid between a starfish and a “sea lily.”
“One thing we hope to answer in the future is why starfish developed their five arms,” Dr. Hunter commented.
“They seem to be taking a stable shape, but we still don’t know why.”
“We still have to keep looking for the fossil that this particular connection provides us with, but going back to the early ancestors, like Cantabrigiaster, we are getting closer to that answer.”
The full findings of the study were published in the journal Biology Letters.
“Finding that missing link with their ancestors is incredibly exciting,” said evolutionary paleoecologist Aaron Hunter of Cambridge University. In the image, researchers are looking for starfish fossils in the Fezouata shale (left) of the Anti-Atlas Mountains (right).
Cambridge experts said the fossil, discovered from a (prominent) site within the so-called Fezouata shale of the Anti-Atlas Range, is the oldest starfish