Pig-Snout Looking Fossil Found in South Pacific
An eight-armed, pig-snouted brittle star found in the depths of the South Pacific has roots reaching back to the days of the dinosaurs. Researchers discovered the brittle star in 2015, in a barrel of unidentified specimens stored in the French National Museum of Natural History in Paris.
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00:00 [Splash]
00:04 [Music]
00:08 Scientists have found a living fossil lurking in the South Pacific.
00:13 [Music]
00:23 This creature, a brittle star covered with pig snouts, is as old as the dinosaurs.
00:31 [Music]
00:35 The enigmatic animal was found in 2011 on an expedition to an underwater volcanic ridge off New Caledonia.
00:42 [Music]
00:56 The creature had eight arms, more than the five or six typical of brittle stars.
01:02 [Music]
01:07 It also had long jaws filled with teeth on its underside.
01:12 [Music]
01:14 And it looked like it was made of dozens of pig snouts snapped together.
01:19 [Music]
01:21 The newly discovered species, Ophiozura expodi, wasn't closely related to other echinoderms.
01:31 A group that includes brittle stars, starfish, and sand dollars.
01:41 Instead, it belongs to a family of creatures that has relatives dating back to 180 million years ago.
01:48 [Music]
01:52 Scientists think the ocean region where it was found may be a hotspot for living fossils
01:58 or species that have been relatively unchanged for many millions of years.
02:03 [Music]
02:08 That's because the conditions in these tropical waters there haven't changed much since the Jurassic period.
02:14 [Music]
02:32 Expeditions around New Caledonia are ongoing.
02:37 And hopefully, scientists will discover more dinosaur-era creatures.
02:44 [Music]
02:55 [Silence]