Laura is a science news writer, covering a wide variety of subjects, but she is particularly fascinated by all things aquatic, paleontology, nanotechnology, and exploring how science influences daily life. Laura is a proud former resident of the New Jersey shore, a competitive swimmer, and a fierce defender of the Oxford comma.
ArticleBody:A newly discovered extinct mollusk species that skulked along the ocean floor half a billion years ago is offering new insights into the early days of this diverse group of animals. Fossils from Shishania aculeata indicate that some early mollusks were flat, armored, slug-like creatures that didn’t have the signature shells we see on today’s snails and bivalves. This species was also covered with hollow cone-shaped spines called sclerites.
Zhang/L Parry. Shishania’s spines show an internal system of canals that are less than one hundredth of a millimeter in diameter. The cones were secreted at their base by microvilli–tiny protrusions of cells that increase surface area. Microvilli are found on the human tongue and in the intestines where they help the body absorb food. “We found microscopic details inside the conical spines covering the body of Shishania that show how they were secreted in life,” said Parry.
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