 |
| Mussel-Shrimp Sperm Looks Like Angel-Hair Pasta/ Renate Matzke-Karasz, Ludwig-Maximilian University and the Geo-Bio-Center |
Paleontologists have just discovered the world’s oldest-known
petrified, fossilized sperm, according to a paper published in the
latest issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
The sperm dates to at least 16–17 million years ago and was
found in a near-perfect state of preservation. The researchers often use
one word to describe it: “giant.”
“The animal that produced these giant sperm belongs to the class
of Ostracoda, or mussel shrimp,” lead author Renate Matzke-Karasz, a
paleontologist at the Ludwig-Maximiliian University and Geo-Bio Center,
told Discovery News, explaining that these hearty animals and their
relatives have been on Earth for at least 500 million years.
Male mussel shrimp have industrial-strength sperm, which could
explain why these animals have been around for so long. While it looks
like angel hair pasta and strands are less than an inch in length, the
sperm is enormous relative to the size of its male producer.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario