The oldest known stars of the world, 480 million years old, are excavated in Morocco and provide the ‘missing link’ between modern crinoids and their ancestors
- The fossil sample was excavated from shale rock in the Anti-Atlas Mountains
- Experts have named the newly identified species ‘Cantabrigiaster fezouataensis’.
- It has five, feathery arms that were wider than those found on modern starfish.
- The discovery could help shed light on the evolution of starfish and related animals
A fossil star excavated in Morocco and dating back 480 million years is a ‘missing link’ between modern-day crinoids and their ancestors, according to a study.
Experts from Cambridge said the fossil – devoid of the so-called Fezouata shale of the Anti-Atlas mountain range – is the oldest known starfish.
It dates back to a period in Earth’s history – the so-called Ordovician Biodiversification Event – when life suddenly expanded.
The previous competitor for the oldest zodiac sign recorded was 50 million years younger, the researchers said.
Given the scientific name ‘Cantabrigiaster fezouataensis’, the ancient species has an intricate design, with feathery arms still visible in its fossil specimens.
The beautifully preserved remains will enable paleontologists to map the body of the new species in detail – and shed some light on the evolution of starfish.
A fossil starfish (pictured) excavated in Morocco that is 480 million years old is a ‘missing link’ between modern crinoids and their ancestors.
“It’s incredibly exciting to find this missing link to their ancestors,” said evolutionary paleoecologist Aaron Hunter of the University of Cambridge.
“If you go back in time and put your head in the Ordovician under the sea, you will not recognize any of the marine organisms – except the starfish, it is one of the first modern animals.”
According to the researchers, C. fezouataensis lacks about 60 percent of the features of a modern starfish’s body plan – rather resembling a hybrid between a starfish and a crinoid, or ‘sea lily’.
Sea lilies are wavy filter feeds that look like plants in that they are attached to the seabed via a cylindrical ‘stem’.
“The detail in the fossil is incredible – its structure is so complex that it took a while to unravel its meaning,” said Dr Hunter.
In their study, Dr Hunter and his colleague Javier Ortega-Hernandez – formerly also from Cambridge, now based at Harvard University in the USA – examined a catalog of hundreds of starfish with C. fezouataensis.
They indexed all their physical characteristics to determine how the fossils related to other members of the ‘echinoderm’ family – a diverse group, including cucumbers and starfish.
Like most modern species, the fossil has a fivefold symmetry – but this ancestral form has broad arms that have almost a pentagonal circumference.
The team plans to expand their work in search of other early echinoderms.
Cantabrigiaster fezouataensis dates from a period in Earth’s history – the so-called Ordovician Biodiversification Event – when life suddenly expanded.
According to the researchers, C. fezouataensis lacks about 60 percent of the features of a modern starfish’s body plan – rather resembling 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,” Dr Hunter said.
“It seems to be a stable form for them to adopt – but we still do not know why.”
“We still have to keep looking for the fossil that gives us that specific connection – but by going back to the early ancestors like Cantabrigiaster, we’re getting closer to the answer.”
The full findings of the study were published in the journal Biology Letters.
“It’s incredibly exciting to find this missing link to their ancestors,” said evolutionary paleoecologist Aaron Hunter of the University of Cambridge. In the photo, researchers are hunting for starfish fossils in the Fezouata shale (left) of the Anti-Atlas Mountains (right)
Experts from Cambridge say the fossil – unearthed from a place (marked) within the so-called Fezouata shale of the Anti-Atlas mountain range – is the oldest known starfish.