air bladder,
animals,
beach,
beachcombing,
bilaterian animals,
brown algae,
Cambrian Explosion,
Cambrian News,
convergent evolution,
Ediacaran biota,
Ediacaran fossils,
Evolution,
evolutionary theory,
fauna,
flora,
fossil-hunting,
fossils,
hemichordate worms,
holdfast,
kelp,
kelp stipe,
Kingdom Protista,
Margaretia dorus,
Pacific Northwest,
paleontology,
plants,
Precambrian strata,
protists,
rock hammer,
Science (journal),
tide-pooling,
Western Washington
Over the past few days I’ve been discussing an important paper in the journal Science that reveals supposed Ediacaran bilaterian animal fossils (see here and here, with more to come). Meanwhile, this past weekend, I happened to go on a trip with friends here in Western Washington to do some tide-pooling, beach-combing, and fossil-hunting. We had a fantastic time enjoying the beauty of the inland-coastal Pacific Northwest. During our excursion, I also stumbled on a few things that, with that Science paper in mind, caught my attention. In one instance I found a kelp on the beach with its holdfast still nicely attached. A photo of it is at the top (the holdfast is near the pointy “pick” end of Read More › Source