Moulting fossil “was exciting because it was so unexpected” according to BBC News, and Nature, vol 429, p40, 6 May 2004. Arthropods, such as lobsters, crabs and insects must regularly shed their outer shells as they grow. This process is called moulting or ecdysis, and takes less than ten minutes to happen. Dr Desmond Collins of the Royal Ontario Museum, Canada has found a fossil arthropod named Marrella splendens in the Burgess Shale in Canada – Cambrian rocks believed to be 505 million years old. The exciting, unexpected feature is that it is “perfectly preserved mid ecdysis.” This means it had to be buried rapidly and deeply because the moulting process occurs so quickly, and during the process the animal has a soft body and is easily destroyed. Collins commented: “The likelihood of capturing such an event is so astronomically small.” The fossil confirms the belief that other Cambrian arthropods, many of which are now extinct, moulted just as living ones do.
Editorial Comment: This fossil also confirms what Creation Research has been saying for many years. They are formed by rapid deep burial, not by creatures falling dead on the bottom of the sea and being slowly and gradually covered by sediment. Evolutionists admit this fossil was formed by rapid deep burial, therefore, they must admit that the other Burgess shale fossils were formed the same way. (Ref. arthropod, fossil, Cambrian)