World's oldest preserved brain discovered in a Lancashire coal mine trends now

World's oldest preserved brain discovered in a Lancashire coal mine trends now
World's oldest preserved brain discovered in a Lancashire coal mine trends now

World's oldest preserved brain discovered in a Lancashire coal mine trends now

The world's oldest preserved vertebrate brain has been found inside a 320-million-year-old fossilised fish that was discovered in a Lancashire coal mine.

The fossil was found in 1925 in Carre Heys near Trawden but had been sitting collecting dust in the archives of Manchester Museum ever since.

It wasn't until a cross-Atlantic team of scientists decided to send the fossil off for a CT-scan that its hidden secret was revealed.

The skull initially appeared 'superficially unimpressive', but the X-ray gave a 'startling insight' into how the brain evolved in the fish, showing cranial nerves up to an inch long.

From these scans, the scientists believe the fish would have been between six to eight inches long.

The world's oldest preserved brain has been found inside a 320-million-year-old fossilised fish that was found in 1925 in a coal in Carre Heys near Trawden, Lancashire

The world's oldest preserved brain has been found inside a 320-million-year-old fossilised fish that was found in 1925 in a coal in Carre Heys near Trawden, Lancashire 

Though only its skull was recovered, scientists believe that it would have been six to eight inches long. Pictured: CT scan of the Coccocephalus wildi skull, showing the fossilized brain and associated structures

Though only its skull was recovered, scientists believe that it would have been six to eight inches long. Pictured: CT scan of the Coccocephalus wildi skull, showing the fossilized brain and associated structures

Judging from the shape of its jaw and teeth, it was probably a carnivore, according to the research team.

The fish was a Coccocephalus wildi, an early ray-finned fish roughly the size of a bream, that swam in an estuary and likely dined on small crustaceans, aquatic insects and cephalopods, a group that today includes squid, octopuses and cuttlefish.

Senior author Dr Sam Giles, of the University of Birmingham, said: 'This unexpected find of a three-dimensionally preserved vertebrate brain gives us a startling insight into the neural anatomy of ray-finned fish.

'It tells us a more complicated pattern of brain evolution than suggested by living species alone, allowing us to better define how and when present day bony fishes evolved.

'Comparisons to living fishes showed that the brain of Coccocephalus is most similar to the brains of sturgeons and paddlefish, which are often called 'primitive' fishes because they diverged from all other living ray-finned fishes more than 300 million years ago.'

The fossil was of a fish known as a Coccocephalus wildi - an early ray-finned fish roughly the size of a bream that swam in an estuary and likely dined on small crustaceans, aquatic insects and cephalopods, a group that today includes squid, octopuses and cuttlefish

The fossil was of a fish known as a Coccocephalus wildi - an early ray-finned fish roughly the size of a bream that swam in an estuary and likely dined on small crustaceans, aquatic insects and cephalopods, a group that today includes squid, octopuses and cuttlefish

Researchers said while the skull initially appeared 'superficially unimpressive' it gave a 'startling insight' into how the brain evolved in the fish, revealing the brain and cranial nerves that are an inch long

Researchers said while the skull initially appeared 'superficially unimpressive' it gave a 'startling insight' into

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