“Incredibly Rare” Fossil Find Reminds Us of the Global Flood

In a stunning find, researchers uncovered a fossilized brittle star “frozen in time at exactly the right moment, i.e., during the relatively short time interval between splitting and full regrowth of the missing body half.” This fossil, found in Jurassic layers, is considered in the evolutionary timeline to be 155 million years old. And yet it looks like a brittle star and obviously reproduced the same way brittle stars do today. In other words, in 155 million years, no evolution occurred! How often do we have to beat this drum?

Researchers believe this fossil shows that “this mode of reproduction [clonal fragmentation] has deep roots in evolutionary time. . . .” and “Even more exciting is the conclusion that clonal fragmentation has been linked to a sixfold body symmetry and an epizoic lifestyle, i.e., life on a host organism, from the beginning, suggesting that these features evolved together.” What they need to say is they were designed with this ability from the beginning.

This fossil tells us nothing about features “evolving together.” The fossil is of a fully formed and functioning organism regrowing its arms exactly as we’d expect based on our knowledge of modern brittle stars. The idea that it tells us anything about the evolution of brittle stars or clonal fragmentation is an interpretation of the evidence because of an evolutionary worldview.

Clonal fragmentation isn’t just a happy accident where everything needed just somehow was lucky enough to evolve together!

When we start with God’s Word, we have a different interpretation. This brittle star looks very similar to modern brittle stars because God created things to reproduce according to their kinds. Clonal fragmentation isn’t just a happy accident where everything needed just somehow was lucky enough to evolve together! It was a process created by God.

And this fossil isn’t 155 million years old. The reason such an incredible fossil can even be found is because of the global flood of Noah’s day about 4,300 years ago, which catastrophically buried billions of creatures so rapidly (many of them while still alive) as to preserve snapshots in their lives.

This brittle star isn’t the answer to an evolutionary question. It’s a testimony to God’s handiwork and the event of the global flood.

Dive Deeper at Beyond Bones

If you love fossils and fossilized creatures, I encourage you to join us at the Creation Museum September 20, 2024, for a one-day conference event, Beyond Bones: The Truth About Dinosaurs. You’ll discover the truth about dinosaurs, including research into soft tissue found in dinosaur bones, so-called “feathered dinosaurs,” and more. Admission to the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum is included with conference registration.

Learn more and register to join us for a whole day of nothing but dinosaurs by visiting the event page.

Get More Answers on Answers News

This item was discussed Monday on Answers News with cohosts Dr. Jennifer Rivera, Dr. Tim Chaffey, and Patricia Engler. Answers News is our weekly news program filmed live before a studio audience here at the Creation Museum, broadcast on our Answers in Genesis YouTube channel, and posted to Answers TV. We also covered the following topics:

• Are humans driving “a new kind of evolution”?
• Peru says transgender people are “mentally ill.”
• Is CO₂ rising faster than ever?
• And more!

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Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.