This study ended the long-standing debate that sea sponges were the first animals.
A UC Berkeley team has discovered that a jellyfish-like animal called a ctenophore was the first creature on the planet. The Daily Mail writes about it.
So the results of the study put an end to the long-standing debate that sea sponges were the first animals, since their fossils date back to about 600 million years.
Molecular biologist and study author Daniel Rohsar notes that ctenophores, found swimming in modern oceans and aquariums, beat sponges in the race for supremacy, despite having more complex, differentiated nervous system. They are a good example of how evolution is not a straight line from lower to more complex organisms.
“It’s hard to know what they are, because they are soft-bodied animals and there are no direct fossils. But we can use comparisons of living animals to find out our common ancestors. It’s fascinating – we’re looking deep past, where we have no hope of getting fossils, but by comparing genomes we can learn a lot about these early ancestors,” he said.
Ctenophores are known to have eight sets of tentacle-like cilia that they use to propel themselves through the ocean as they travel below the surface.
It was previously reported that the world’s oldest hedgehog was found in Denmark. They turned out to be a 16-year-old European hedgehog Torvald.
Source: korrespondent
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