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The world’s oldest known starfish, dating back 480 million years, is unearthed in Morocco and provides the ‘missing link’ between modern crinoids and their ancestors
- The fossil specimen was unearthed in shale rock in the Anti-Atlas Mountains
- Experts named the newly identified species ‘Cantabrigiaster fezouataensis’
- It had five feathery arms which were wider than those found on modern starfish
- Discovery could help shed light on how starfish and related animals evolved
A fossil starfish unearthed in Morocco that dates back 480 million years is a “ missing link ” between modern crinoids and their ancestors, a study reported.
Cambridge experts have said the fossil – discovered in the so-called Fezouata Shale in the Anti-Atlas mountain range – is the oldest known starfish.
It goes back to a time in Earth’s history – the so-called Ordovician Biodiversification Event – when life suddenly expanded.
The previous candidate for the oldest sea star specimen on record was 50 million years younger, the researchers said.
Given the scientific name “ Cantabrigiaster fezouataensis ”, the ancient species has a complex design, with feathery arms still visible in its fossil specimens.
The beautifully preserved remains will allow paleontologists to map the body of the new species in detail – and shed light on how starfish evolved.
A fossil starfish (pictured) discovered in Morocco dating back 480 million years is a ‘missing link’ between modern crinoids and their ancestors, a study reported.
“Finding this missing link with their ancestors is incredibly exciting,” said evolutionary paleoecologist Aaron Hunter of the University of Cambridge.
“If you go back in time and put your head under the sea in the Ordovician, then you won’t recognize any of the marine organisms – except starfish, they are one of the first modern animals.
According to the researchers, C. fezouataensis does not have about 60% of the body plan characteristics of a modern starfish – rather resembling a hybrid between a starfish and a crinoid, or “ sea lily. ”
Water lilies are wavy-armed filter feeders that resemble plants in that they are attached to the seabed by a cylindrical “stem”.
“The level of detail in the fossil is incredible – its structure is so complex that it took us some time to figure out what it meant,” said Dr Hunter.
In their study, Dr Hunter and his colleague Javier Ortega-Hernandez – previously also from Cambridge, now based at Harvard University in the US – examined a catalog of hundreds of starfish-like animals alongside of C. fezouataensis.
They listed all of their body characteristics in order 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 quintuple symmetry – but this ancestral shape had broad arms that almost had a pentagonal outline.
The team plans to expand their work to find other early echinoderms.
Cantabrigiaster fezouataensis dates back to a period in Earth’s history – the so-called Ordovician biodiversification event – when life suddenly developed
According to the researchers, C. fezouataensis does not have about 60% of the characteristics of the body plan of a modern starfish – rather looking like a hybrid between a starfish and a ‘sea lily’
“One thing we hope to answer in the future is why starfish have developed their five arms,” commented Dr Hunter.
“It seems like a stable form for them to take – but we don’t know why yet.
“We have to keep looking for the fossil that gives us that particular connection – but going straight back to early ancestors like Cantabrigiaster, we get closer to that answer.
The full results of the study were published in the journal Biology Letters.
“Finding this missing link with their ancestors is incredibly exciting,” said evolutionary paleoecologist Aaron Hunter of the University of Cambridge. In the photo, researchers search for starfish fossils in the Fezouata shale (left) of the Anti-Atlas Mountains (right)
Cambridge experts have said the fossil – discovered at one (highlighted) location in the so-called Fezouata Shale of the Anti-Atlas mountain range – is the oldest known starfish.
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