Oldest sea cucumber fossil found

A scientist from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences has found the world's oldest complete sea cucumber fossil, which has advanced the history of sea cucumber fossils by 50 million years.

Nanjing Daily reported on Nov 18 that the 460-million-year-old sea cucumber fossil, found in Wales by Joseph P. Botting, is about 1 centimeter. Unlike modern sea cucumbers, which have long bodies, the ancient sea cucumber in the fossil had a bulb-like shape. It also had antennae on both two sides of its body.

So far, sea cucumber fossils have been found in only 10 locations worldwide. The previous oldest one dates to 410 million years ago.