480-million-year-old fossil – the ancestor of all starfish-like creatures

Morocco, Jan 24: Researchers have identified a fossil that is star shaped with intricate design and feathery arms – similar to our starfish. They found the well-preserved body embedded on a rock in the Anti-Atlas mountain range in Morocco.

The body structure and features were indexed and studied to understand how it is related to other members of theechinoderm family – comprising of sea cucumbers, star fish, sea lilies, etc. The analysis revealed that it had the food groove – funnels which send food along each of the starfish’s arms.

It was named Cantabrigiaster fezouataensis. The creature belonged to the Ordovician period (485 million to 460 million years ago).

The fossil is likely to serve as the missing link in the evolution of starfish.