By Yuan Ren For Mailonline
Published: 19:01 BST, 2 May 2019 | Updated: 19:09 BST, 2 May 2019
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Floating logs up to 45 foot (15 metres) long ferried feathery sea creatures around the world's oceans for decades, researcher has found.
These 'megarafts' of feeding oceanic species are some the largest micro habitats seen in the fossil record from the Jurassic era.
They became popular colonies of marine life as the structures were high in the water and provided a safe haven to escape predators.
The latest study also confirmed that the logs did not collapse as they became denser, as was previously thought, with some existing for up to 20 years.
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Floating logs that ferried rich communities of sea creatures around the oceans were able to float for decades, the latest research has found. The picture shows a reconstruction of marine life from the Jurassic period
The latest study from Cambridge academics focused on megacrafts colonies, which were covered in feathery creatures with tentacles known as crinoids - or sea lilies.
Related invertebrates similar to starfish, sea urchins and sea cucumbers were also thought to be present.
These creatures were prevalent in marine life and formed a major part of the Jurassic shallow ocean environments and covered the rafts that were studied.
Using a giant fossil specimen from Germany known as the giant 'Hauff Specimen', researchers mapped the spatial position of crinoids in one of the largest