The phylum Mollusca (molluscs) is an amazing¹ and diverse assemblage of invertebrates. It includes squids, clams, tusk shells, octopuses, snails, and chitons.

What was the origin of this large and amazing group? According to evolutionism, “The first molluscs probably arose during Precambrian times because fossils attributed to Mollusca appear in geological strata as old as the early Cambrian period [emphasis added].”² But, as they admit, the only mollusc ancestors that have been found are still molluscs.

However, in August of 2024, BBC reported about a half-a-billion-year-old slug that supposedly revealed non-mollusc mollusc origins.³ The BBC News article said, “the fossil, Shishania aculeate, reveals that the earliest molluscs were flat, shell-less slugs covered in a protective spiny armour.”³ Is this a missing link? Is this fossil really an evolutionary precursor to octopus and snails?

Clearly the evolutionists still aren’t certain. Evolutionist Ewen Callaway, writing in Nature magazine, stated, “A 510-million-year-old creature that looked like the famously smelly fruit [durian] suggests that the earliest molluscs were covered in hollow spines [emphasis added].”⁴

Science magazine, however, pushes back against the missing link interpretation, recognizing this invertebrate as a stem mollusc “that displays basal molluscan traits, such as a foot and mantle.”⁵ It is evidently an extinct mollusc with all its intricate parts.

The creation model claims that when molluscs are found in the fossil record, they will be 100% molluscs. ICR’s Brian Thomas stated, “A five-centimeter-long fossil of a squid-like cephalopod [mollusc] has been found in a ‘Middle Cambrian’ zone in Canada’s Burgess Shale, near the very bottom of earth’s fossil-bearing rocks. Cambrian rocks appear to represent catastrophic marine deposits made at the beginning of the Flood year.”⁶

Indeed,

Apart from the greatly inflated ages, the Cambrian explosion is exactly what the Flood geologist would predict based on Genesis chapters 6-9. Creatures with virtually all phylum-level body designs suddenly appear in the fossil record complete and fully-formed including arthropods (e.g., trilobites), brachiopods, chordates (e.g., fish found in the Lower Cambrian), echinoderms, mollusks, onycophorans and priapulids. These are all complex creatures.⁷

Is it any wonder that an evolutionist said, “The grand puzzle of the Cambrian explosion surely must rank as one of the most important outstanding mysteries in evolutionary biology.”⁸

The BBC News article stated, “This [mollusc] diversity evolved very quickly a long time ago, and very few fossils have been left behind that chronicle their early evolution.”³ One is tempted to question whether there really is such a thing as mollusc evolution since there was a wide assortment of molluscs “long ago” and there are very few left behind to record their supposed evolution.

Furthermore, there are few, if any, undisputed missing links. And in light of the Science article, not all invertebrate paleontologists are in agreement about the current interpretation of the Shishania discovery: that this spiny shell-less slug truly reveals evolutionary mollusc origins. Are there other evolutionists that dissent—and why?

Meanwhile, the general rule of the fossil record continues to be that the missing links are missing.⁹

References

1. Sherwin, F. Molecular Motors of a Squid Show CET in Action. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org July 24, 2023.
2. Hickman, C. et al. 2020. Integrated Principles of Zoology. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education, 364.
3. Dimitrova, G. and PA Media. Half-a-Billion-Year-Old Slug Reveals Mollusc Origins. BBC News. Posted on bbc.com August 1, 2024.
4. Callaway, E. Is That a Durian? No, It’s a Weird Ancient Mollusc. Nature. Posted on nature.com August 1, 2024.
5. Zhang, G. et al. 2024. A Cambrian Spiny Stem Mollusk and the Deep Homology of Lophotrochozoan Scleritomes. Science. 385 (6708): 528–532.
6. Thomas, B. 2010. Tentacular Squid: Rewriting Squid Stories Before the Ink Dries. Acts & Facts. 39 (8): 18.
7. Sherwin, F. Another Complex Cambrian Critter. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org September 5, 2017.
8. Lowe, C. 2013. What Led to Metazoa’s Big Bang? Science. 340 (6137): 1170. (see also Clarey, T. Cambrian Explosion Alive and Well. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org January 14, 2021; Meyer, S. 2013. Darwin’s Doubt. San Francisco, CA: Harper One.)
9. Morris, J. and F. Sherwin. 2010. The Fossil Record: Unearthing Nature's History of Life. Dallas, TX: Institute for Creation Research.

* Dr. Sherwin is a science news writer at the Institute for Creation Research. He earned an M.A. in invertebrate zoology from the University of Northern Colorado and received an honorary doctorate of science from Pensacola Christian College.