A new species of sea sponge that was identified off the north Norfolk coast has been officially named by a 9-year-old girl.. Sylvie, who attends Langham Village School in north Norfolk, is said to ...

A new species of sea sponge has been named by a girl from Norfolk. The unusual creature was first discovered by divers ten years ago in a special conservation zone called the chalk beds, off the ...

The Canadian fossils represent this latter kind, called a horny sponge. “It is the relict structure of the 3-D meshwork spongin skeleton that is preserved and that is so distinctive,” Turner said.

The mesh-like fossil would push back the oldest known animal on Earth by more than 300 million years. But like many claims of very old life, the study is kicking up lively debate.

Critics challenged a study’s claim that a netlike structure found in rocks in a Canadian mountain range could be an 890-million-year-old sponge fossil.

Strange sponge-like fossil creature from half a billion years ago. ScienceDaily . Retrieved June 2, 2025 from www.sciencedaily.com / releases / 2018 / 06 / 180619230853.htm ...