THE GUARDIAN: 'Like finding a sneeze': fossil identified as 100m-year-old hagfish

    Press/Media: Research

    Description

    The fossilised remains of a foot-long slimy sea creature dating from 100m years ago suggest that the last common ancestor of all vertebrates looked less like a squishy eel and more typically “fish-like”, researchers claim.

    They say the fossil, unearthed around eight years ago in Lebanon, is an early hagfish, a peculiar creature that has no jaws, eyes or true vertebrae but that boasts the ability, when threatened, to squirt out a mixture that turns into an expanse of slime.

    https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jan/21/like-finding-a-sneeze-fossil-identified-as-100m-year-old-hagfish

    Period21 Jan 2019

    Media coverage

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    Media coverage

    • Title'Like finding a sneeze': fossil identified as 100m-year-old hagfish
      Media name/outletThe Guardian
      Media typeWeb
      Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
      Date21/01/19
      DescriptionThe fossilised remains of a foot-long slimy sea creature dating from 100m years ago suggest that the last common ancestor of all vertebrates looked less like a squishy eel and more typically “fish-like”, researchers claim.

      They say the fossil, unearthed around eight years ago in Lebanon, is an early hagfish, a peculiar creature that has no jaws, eyes or true vertebrae but that boasts the ability, when threatened, to squirt out a mixture that turns into an expanse of slime.

      https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jan/21/like-finding-a-sneeze-fossil-identified-as-100m-year-old-hagfish
      URLhttps://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jan/21/like-finding-a-sneeze-fossil-identified-as-100m-year-old-hagfish
      PersonsPhillip Manning
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    Keywords

    • palaeontology
    • fossils
    • hagfish

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