“One-in-a-million” sea creature fossil preserves soft tissue for 450 million years
Scientists have identified exceptionally rare soft tissue preserved in a 450-million-year-old crinoid fossil, more than 200 million years older than the first dinosaurs. Its delicate tube feet offer a remarkable new window into how some of Earth’s earliest reef animals lived, fed, and evolved.
More than 450 million years ago, crinoids, ancient relatives of starfish, thrived in early coral reefs. Fossils usually only preserve hard structures, leaving soft tissues like skin and organs largely absent from the fossil record. A rare fossil studied by University of Oklahoma paleontologists, however, has preserved delicate tube feet, providing valuable insight into early animal evolution.
Only two crinoid fossils with soft tissue have ever been discovered, making this specimen particularly significant. The preserved tissues date back over 450 million years, far older than the earliest dinosaurs. Dr. Lena Cole and Dr. David Wright, co-authors of the study, compared the ancient fossil to living crinoids and found notable differences in anatomy, suggesting that crinoids evolved unique feeding strategies over hundreds of millions of years.
This discovery underscores the importance of museum collections in advancing paleontological research, as many significant findings come from specimens already housed in museums.
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