Oldest sponge found, according to reports in Science Shots 9 March 2015 and PhysOrg 10 March 2015. A group of researchers from China, USA and France have found a tiny fossilised sponge in “a phosphorus-rich geological formation known for preserving animal fossils in an excellent state” in southern China. The fossil is described as “slightly more than 1.2 mm wide and 1.1 mm tall, is composed of hundreds of thousands of cells, and has a gross structure consisting of three adjacent hollow tubes sharing a common base”. The scientists studied it with an electron microscope and x-rays and found it has cell structures similar to modern sponges.
The fossil is dated at 600 million years, approximately 60 million years before the Cambrian era. According to Science Shots this makes it the “oldest known sponge”. Science Shots goes on to say, “Getting the date right is important for understanding the timing and course of animal evolution, because the split between the sponges and most other animals (called the Eumetazoa) was a key event in the early history of life on Earth”. The article also says: “The new discovery indicates that the common ancestor of sponges and Eumetazoa lived much earlier than many scientists assumed”.
Editorial Comment: Sorry to blow their cover, but this fossil ‘sponge’ actually tells us nothing about “the timing and course of animal evolution”. The belief in a common ancestor for sponges and Eumetazoa is based on faith alone, definitely not by this fossil and nothing in real science. No-one has observed a creature that was not a sponge or a Eumetazoan turn into either of these kinds of animals.
The only thing we can tell from scientifically examining this fossil is that sponges have always been sponges, whatever age is claimed for them. This fossil was identified as a sponge because it has a cell structure like modern day sponges, as do the Cambrian sponges from our own collection. Therefore, it is evidence that sponges are separate kinds of animals, and have multiplied after their kind, as Genesis says. (Ref. Porifera, invertebrates, living fossils)
Evidence News vol. 15, No. 5
15 April 2015
Creation Research Australia
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