Old Squid Relative Takes Lunch But Then Something Happens

Image courtesy of Malcolm Hart/Proceedings of the Geologists' Association.



Joel Kontinen


“A squid relative went fishing, but never got to eat its prey.” It probably got attacked by the Flood of Noah’s days that put an end to its ravages.

“This 200 million-year-old fossil was originally discovered in the 19th century, but a new analysis reveals that it's the oldest known example of a coleoid, or a class of cephalopods that includes octopuses, squid and cuttlefish, attacking prey.

That attack was vicious, said study lead researcher, Malcolm Hart, emeritus professor of micropaleontology at the University of Plymouth in England.”

The researchers named the creature Clarkeiteuthis montefiorei. The 40 centimeters squid long relative was eating a smaller herring-like fish, when something stopped what they were doing.

The study has been accepted by the Proceedings of the Geologists' Association and was presented May 6 as part of Sharing Geoscience Online.

Source:

Geggel , Laura. 2020. 200 million-year-old fossil shows oldest 'squid attack' on record. Live Science 5 May.

Ammonites Caught in Burmese Amber

Imagine courtesy of Nobu Tamura. CC BY 3.0.




Joel Kontinen


Ammonites are one of most oldest animals. They share a trait that has caused a commotion to those who cared for the beauty of animals: they share Fibonnaci numbers, which shows how they we build.

As a record in Science shows; “The latest discovery in a cache of ancient Burmese amber has revealed something completely unexpected: an extinct squidlike organism called an ammonite, which swam Earth’s seas while dinosaurs dominated the land 100 million years ago.”

In addition, “mites, spiders, millipedes, cockroaches, beetles, flies, wasps, and marine gastropods” were found on the amber.

This study was reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Fibonnaci means God’s mathematics. Even we have been blessed with it.



Source:

Sokol, Joshua. 2019. Extinct squid relative entombed in amber for 100 million years Science magazine. (13 May).

Squid Ink Assumed to be 150 Million Years Old Challenges Belief in Millions of Years

Newly found squid ink suggests that the assumed millions of years never existed. Image of a modern-day squid courtesy of Hans Hillewaert, Wikipedia.





Joel Kontinen

Palaeontologists have found fossilized squid ink in England. The one-inch (2.5 cm) long black ink sac of a fossil assumed to be 150 million years old was well preserved.

The ink is as good as new. The researchers used it to draw a picture of the squid. They also used the ink to write the squid's Latin name Belemnotheutis antiquus.

Dr. Phil Wilby of the British Geological Survey said that the animal closely resembles modern squids. He suggests its preservation is an enigma. ”It is difficult to imagine how you can have something as soft and sloppy as an ink sac fossilized in three dimension, still black, and inside a rock that is 150 million years old,” he said.

According to the researchers, the probability of finding a fossilized ink sac is one in a billion. The new discovery joins dinosaur soft tissue and C-14 found in diamonds to challenge belief in millions of years.

The squid fossil shows signs of rapid burial, suggesting it met its end in a catastrophe such as Noah’s Flood. In addition, it shows no signs of evolution.


Sources:

BBC News. 2009. Ink found in Jurassic-era squid. (19 August)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/wiltshire/8208838.stm

Derbyshire, David. 2009. 155million years old and still inky: The perfectly preserved squid fossil amazing scientists. Mail Online (19 August) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1207367/The-150million-year-old-squid-fossil-perfectly-preserved-scientists-make-ink-ink-sac.html