A fossil believed to be as old as the dinosaur era has revived new interest on how it ended up 'fossilised'. According to a new analysis conducted by the University of Plymouth in England of the 200-million-year-old fossil which was discovered in the 19th century on the southern coast of England and it may be the oldest example of a class of cephalopods like an octopus or a squid.
The fossil shows a squid-like creature with 10 arms covered in hooks, it had just finished killing a prey by crushing its' head when the disaster struck and left both the marine creatures dead. That attack was vicious, said study lead researcher, Malcolm Hart, emeritus professor of micropaleontology at the University of Plymouth in England.
Hart noted that he's studied the formations on the ground where this fossil was found and noticed that it was abundant in "microfossils that would have required oxygen" adding to mystery of how the creature and its prey ended up fossilized.
"The head of the fish has been bitten through; the bones have got sharp edges where they've literally been crushed and broken. So this thing probably attacked the fish quite violently — the bones in the head of the fish are just literally smashed," Hart was quoted as saying by LiveScience.com.
The enlarged photos of the fossils shows the details of the predator, an extinct squid relative known as a belemnoid. While the modern squid has eight "regular" arms and two elongated arms covered with suckers, the ancient one has 10 arms covered in hooks. However, a few species do have hooks on some or all of their arms.
