‘Living Fossil’ in Australian Caves

A rare blind crustacean, looking ‘like a small prawn’ and only about five millimetres (3/16 inch) long, has been found in Jenolan Caves, a well-known tourist attraction in New South Wales, Australia.

The syncarid, as it is known, is found as a fossil in rocks alleged to be 180 million years old.

Mutations (inherited genetic copying mistakes) are happening all the time, yet if one believed those imaginary long ages, this creature has gone through maybe a billion or more generations virtually unchanged.

There are now embarrassingly large numbers of such ‘living fossils’ known (see Living Fossils for some more). New Scientist of March 20, 1993, reported the 1992 discovery of what is being regarded as a living graptolite—a tiny animal colonizing the sea floor. Graptolite fossils are found in rocks allegedly 300 million years old—and not in any ‘younger’ rocks.

Reference

The Australian, June 14, 1993, p. 3.