If confirmed, tubes in 890-million-year-old rock may be the oldest animal fossils
If the fossils turn out to be sea sponges, they’d mark a remarkably early start to animal life
This fragment of the skeleton of a modern bath sponge (Spongia officinalis) highlights the animal’s 3-D meshwork. A putative ancient sponge sports a similar structure, a new study claims.
E.C. Turner/Nature 2021