A fossil starfish unearthed in Morocco that dates back 480 million years is a 'missing link' between modern day crinoids and their ancestors, a study has reported.
Experts from Cambridge said that the fossil — uncovered from within the so-called Fezouata shale of the Anti-Atlas mountain range — is the oldest-known starfish.
A fossil starfish (pictured) unearthed in Morocco that dates back 480 million years is a 'missing link' between modern day crinoids and their ancestors, a study has reported.
'Finding this missing link to their ancestors is incredibly exciting,' said evolutionary palaeoecologist Aaron Hunter of the University of Cambridge.
They indexed all of their bodily features in order to assess how the fossil species was related to other members of the 'echinoderm' family — a diverse group including sea cucumbers and starfish
Like most modern species, the fossil has a five-fold symmetry — but this ancestral form had broad arms that had almost a pentagonal outline.Â
'Finding this missing link to their ancestors is incredibly exciting,' said evolutionary palaeoecologist Aaron Hunter of the University of Cambridge
Experts from Cambridge said that the fossil — uncovered from a location (highlighted) within the so-called Fezouata shale of the Anti-Atlas mountain range — is the oldest-known starfish
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