Image courtesy of Alex.Vasenin CC BY-SA 3.0..
Joel Kontinen
Scientists have found non-skeletal corals growing from
the stalks of marine animals known as crinoides, or sea lilies, on the floor of the Pacific Ocean, off
the coasts of Honshu and Shikoku in Japan, They disappeared from the fossilrecord for hundreds of million years.
They disappeared from the
fossil record around 273 million years ago, after the specific crinoids and
corals in question went extinct.
Now, we have seen two different species of coral -
hexacorals of the genera Abyssoanthus,
which is very rare, and Metridioidea, a type of sea anemone - growing from the
stems of living Japanese sea lilies (Metacrinus rotundus).
Source:
Starr, Michelle, 2021, ' Living
Fossil' Thought Extinct For 273 Million Years Found Thriving on Ocean Floor Science Alert 10 May..
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