Scientists have figured out how to date a species of bone-eating worm, that was supposed to have evolved in conjunction with the whales, back to ancient times when they survived on the corpses of giant aquatic reptiles.
Researchers discovered that Osedax, commonly called as zombie worms, originated no less than hundred million years back, have managed to fed on the skeletons of ancient reptiles, for example, sea turtles and plesiosaurs.
Dr Nicholas Higgs, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Plymouth University's Marine Institute, said the revelation was essential for both comprehension of the genesis of the species and its insinuations for fossil remains.
The research team exposed how they traced obvious marks of zombie worms on plesiosaur fossils in custody of the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, at the Cambridge University. They utilized CT scanners, equipments that images a patient's internal organs at hospital centers, to make 3D and high-resolution pictures of the preserved remains of a prehistoric sea turtle and a plesiosaur. Bones from the two creatures were encased in seafloor sediments. Both sets of fossil remains incorporated the distinct marks of Osedax colonization, according to the paper published online in Royal Society journal Biology Letter. The two punctures on the exterior of the plesiosaur fossil remains measured 0.36 millimeters and 0.56 millimeters across while those on the sea turtle's were normally smaller. The team recorded all of these sizes fall within the range seen in modern-day and fossil whale bones.
Dr. Higgs wrote that in the past decades, the exploration of the deep ocean has prompted to different discoveries of new species, which has led to tracing their origin and how they have manage to evolve through time.
He quoted that the irregular adaptations and remarkable splendor of zombie worms exemplify the remote nature of ocean life. Their discovery pointed out that the Osedax did not coexist with the whales but they had been eating bones of huge sea reptiles that have governed the oceans in prehistoric times. His conclusion is that Osedax prohibited many skeletal systems from being fossilized which could be a problem in researching these wiped out leviathans.
Dr. Silvia Danise, postdoctoral research fellow from University of Georgia, 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."
Dr. Danise hypothesized that as the zombie worms ate the vertebrate bones before being buried, Osedax could have been accountable for the missing information on marine life systems and underwater fossils on a global level.
