Newly Discovered Brittle Star Species Found Beside a 9.5-Million-Year-Old Whale Fall
Learn more about a new species of brittle star found beside a 9.5-million-year-old whale carcass in Denmark.
A new brittle star species, Ophiura huebnerjenseni, was discovered alongside a 9.5-million-year-old whale carcass in Denmark. The tiny skeletal plates from the previously unknown marine creature were found hidden in the sediment near the bones during an excavation of a beaked whale's jaw and vertebrae in Gram Clay Pit. Researchers believe the site represents a shallow-water whale fall, which provided an abundant food source for opportunistic animals, as the fossil findings suggest.
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