A rare ancient fossil of a sea lily discovered by researchers at the University of Oklahoma is providing an unprecedented look at one of the earliest animals to thrive in Earth’s oceans more than 450 million years ago.
The fossil belongs to an ancient crinoid, an early relative of modern starfish and sea urchins. Often called “sea lilies” because of their flower-like appearance, crinoids were among the first animals to flourish in Earth’s earliest coral reef ecosystems, long before dinosaurs or plants spread across land.
Soft tissue survived against the odds
Unlike most fossils, which preserve only hard body parts such as skeletal plates or shells, this specimen retains delicate soft tissue. Researchers said the discovery offers an exceptional opportunity to study the biology of an animal that lived during the early Paleozoic Era.
“After an animal dies, soft tissues like skin, eyes or internal organs are the first things to decay,” said Dr. Lena Cole, a paleontologist at the University of Oklahoma and assistant curator of invertebrate paleontology at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. “Soft tissues are only preserved when the environment acts almost like a natural refrigerator or vacuum-sealer—conditions that are incredibly rare.”
The fossil preserves tube feet from the ancient crinoid Dendrocrinus simcoensis. These small, flexible structures help living crinoids capture food and interact with ocean currents. Researchers said the fossil represents only the second known crinoid specimen with preserved soft tissue and the oldest example ever discovered.
“Preservation like this is truly one in a million,” Cole said. “Crinoid fossils number in the millions, and this is only the second time soft tissues have ever been found.” Co-author Dr. David Wright said the fossil’s age makes the discovery even more remarkable.
“It’s incredible these soft tissues have survived more than 450 million years,” Wright said. “For reference, these soft tissues are more than 200 million years older than the oldest dinosaur.”
Ancient tube feet reveal feeding habits
The preserved tube feet also provide clues about how ancient crinoids fed and adapted to their environment. Researchers said differences in their size and structure reflect feeding strategies, much like mammal teeth reveal dietary habits.
“Since crinoid tube feet are used for feeding, you can think of them in a similar way to how we think about teeth in mammals,” Wright said. “Differences in their structure tell us about what kinds of environments a species lived in and how it fed.”
A 450-million-year-old fossil is giving scientists an unprecedented look at one of Earth's earliest reef animals. Researchers discovered exceptionally preserved soft tissue in an ancient crinoid, offering rare insights into early marine life, feeding strategies and evolution. pic.twitter.com/lnzQqo26Fa
— Tom Marvolo Riddle (@tom_riddle2025) July 9, 2026
By comparing the fossil with modern crinoids, researchers found that the ancient species had a very different anatomy, offering new evidence of how crinoids adapted over hundreds of millions of years.
“Comparisons with living crinoids show that the anatomy of this ancient species was very different,” Cole said. “This gives us new insight into how crinoids evolved and how their feeding strategies changed over hundreds of millions of years.”
New clues about early marine ecosystems
Beyond crinoid evolution, the fossil offers new evidence about early marine ecosystems. Researchers said comparing extinct species with their modern relatives helps explain how ancient reef communities evolved and how environmental changes shaped today’s oceans.
“Fossilized remains of long-extinct species can show features well outside the range of variation we see in living species,” Wright said.
“By comparing ecological ways of life for extinct and modern species, we can understand how patterns of adaptive evolution have changed through time and what factors shaped the modern biosphere.”
Researchers said the discovery also fills important gaps in the fossil record, helping scientists better understand the evolution of early marine animals and the ecosystems they inhabited.
Museum collection preserved a scientific treasure
The discovery also highlights the importance of museum collections. Many major paleontology breakthroughs come not from new excavations but from specimens that have been preserved for years and reexamined with new technologies.
The fossil had been stored for years at Montréal’s Musée de paléontologie et de l’évolution, a community-supported museum, before Cole and Wright recognized its scientific significance during a research visit.
“This discovery highlights the importance of museum collections and the community support that keeps them alive,” Cole said. “Without the dedication of many people caring for these collections, this research would never have been possible.”
Cole and Wright oversee the invertebrate paleontology collections at the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, which house more than one million specimens. Researchers said collections like these continue to produce discoveries because many fossils have yet to be fully studied.
“This is why we work to make our collections accessible to researchers around the world,” Wright said. “There are simply too many fossils to study over one person’s career. There’s more than a lifetime’s worth of discoveries waiting to be found.”
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