Thursday, August 20, 2009

Ink extracted from a 155 million years Squid


In some rocks of Wiltshire, England, paleontologists have found a fossil of a squid-like mollusk, some 155 million years old, preserved in such a condition that could be extracted even some ink stored in his inside.

The specimen of Belemnotheutis antiquus has been described as "one of the best preserved fossils of the world." Phil Wilby, coauthor of the discovery, explains that everything is due to the so-called "Medusa effect" which occurs when specimens become stone in question of days, before damage to their soft tissues.

The ink sample is being analyzed at Yale University to obtain a more complete chemical analysis. So far the researchers have already used, mixing it with an ammonia solution, to draw a sketch of prehistoric mollusk.

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/

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