Overview
- Researchers Lena Cole and David Wright identified raised, lightly pyritized tube feet in a Dendrocrinus simcoensis specimen and published the analysis on July 7, 2026.
- The soft tissues are preserved as slightly raised pyrite while the crinoid’s skeleton is preserved as calcite, a combination that points to rapid burial and low‑oxygen conditions at fossilization.
- This is only the second known crinoid fossil with preserved soft parts and—at about 450 million years old—the oldest example, pushing back direct evidence of crinoid feeding anatomy.
- Tube feet control how crinoids capture food and interact with currents, so their preservation lets scientists compare ancient and modern species to infer changes in feeding strategies and habitat use.
- The find came from a long‑held specimen at Montréal’s Musée de paléontologie et de l’évolution and underscores how reexamining museum collections can produce major scientific discoveries.