Zombie Worms Ate Fossils

A study suggests that a type of deep-sea worm, which existed for 100 million years, ate up chunks of fossil record.

18:51 15 April 2015

Researchers have found bore-holes indicative of Osedax worms in the fossilised flipper of plesiosaur, and the rib and shell of an ancient sea turtle suggesting that a type of deep-sea worm existed for 100 million years and ate up chunks of fossil record. 

 

The study's co-author Dr Nicholas Higgs, a researcher at Plymouth University's Marine Institute, said: "Our discovery shows that these bone-eating worms did not co-evolve with whales, but that they also devoured the skeletons of large marine reptiles that dominated oceans in the age of the dinosaurs. 

 

"Osedax, therefore, prevented many skeletons from becoming fossilised, which might hamper our knowledge of these extinct leviathans."

 

She added: "The increasing evidence for Osedax throughout the oceans past and present, combined with their propensity to rapidly consume a wide range of vertebrate skeletons, suggests that Osedax may have had a significant negative effect on the preservation of marine vertebrate skeletons in the fossil record.” 

 

"By destroying vertebrate skeletons before they could be buried, Osedax may be responsible for the loss of data on marine vertebrate anatomy and carcass-fall communities on a global scale."