'Zombie Worms' Ate Mediterranean Fossil | The Institute for Creation Research

'Zombie Worms' Ate Mediterranean Fossil

Osedax worms—also called "zombie" worms—live off the bones of dead creatures. Several species of Osedax surfaced in Monterey Bay, California, in 2002, and evidence of them has now been found in the Mediterranean in a fossilized whale bone. These bone-destroying worms have evidently existed across the globe as long as animals have, which raises a question: If the fossilization of bones requires vast timespans, why didn't Osedax consume them before they could be mineralized?

An Osedax has no mouth. It instead absorbs its nutrients through branched appendages that grow down into the bone, while a tube-shaped stalk suspends fan-like gills into the surrounding seawater.1 The worm provides the perfect home for a species of symbiotic bacteria that erode the bone.2

After Monterey's deep-water Osedax discovery, researchers found more when they submerged and monitored a whale carcass in the Atlantic Ocean.3 Now, the characteristic cave-shape holes made by the worms have been recognized in the whale bone fossil from Tuscany in Italy.4 Has any ocean never had them?

Osedax holes have appeared in some of the lowermost whale bone fossils in the rock record, so the worms have been around at least as long as whales. But that also means that the whale bones could only have hardened into stone rapidly, before the worms could eat them.

Nature author Matt Kaplan wrote that since Osedax boreholes are found in bird fossils located in older dinosaur rocks, Osedax "could have evolved alongside whales roughly 30 million to 40 million years ago during the Paleogene period, or they could have evolved 70 million to 80 million years ago during the Cretaceous."4

But if the worms were alive that far back, then all those large, bony marine creatures—and birds—that were fossilized alongside dinosaurs must also have been deposited, buried, and mineralized rapidly to avoid destruction by Osedax.

In fact, clam shells, not just whale bones, are very susceptible to biological destruction. Paleontologist and textbook author Donald Prothero wrote, "The shells themselves are subject to other biological agents of destruction…. A variety of organisms, including boring algae, boring sponges, worms and bryozoans, erode holes and canals in dead shells and eventually weaken them so that they fall apart."5

But if clams are so quickly destroyed, then all their buried remains must have been deposited rapidly, too. And they are found in almost all sedimentary rock layers and on all continents.

Osedax worms had been known from the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and are now known in the Mediterranean. Thus, there may be no limit to their distribution across the earth. And their boreholes are evident in fossilized whales, birds, and animals, showing that there may be no time limit to their co-existence with these creatures. Together, this means that there may be no limit to the number of carcasses in the fossil record that required rapid, catastrophic conditions for fossilization.

So, zombie worms are one more indication that it is not present processes, but catastrophes, that are the keys to the earth's past. And the rapid fossilization and catastrophic deposition evident in the geologic record best fits the Bible's record of a young earth that was entirely flooded only thousands of years ago.

References

  1. 'Zombie' worms found in Mediterranean fossil. University of Leeds press release, November 1, 2011, reporting on results in Higgs, N. D. et al. Evidence of Osedax worm borings in Pliocene (~3Ma) whale bone from the Mediterranean. Historical Biology. Published online October 24, 2011.
  2. Thomas, B. Bone-eating Worms Show Fossils Formed Fast. ICR News. Posted on icr.org February 9, 2011, accessed November 7, 2011.
  3. Glover, A. G. et al. 2005. World-wide whale worms? A new species of Osedax from the shallow north Atlantic. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 272 (1581): 2587-2592.
  4. Kaplan, M. Bone-boring worm once had a taste for birds. Nature News. Posted on nature.com December 6, 2010, accessed November 8, 2011.
  5. Prothero, D. 2004. Bringing Fossils to Life, 2 ed. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 13.

* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research.

Article posted on December 9, 2011.

The Latest
NEWS
The Origin of Eukaryotes
Eukaryotes are multicellular organisms that contain diverse differentiated cell types. Within almost every cell there are subcellular compartments called...

CREATION PODCAST
Water vs. Wind: The Controversial Coconino | The Creation Podcast:...
Welcome to the sixth episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit old...

NEWS
Fossil Fish Finally Filmed
The bizarre lobe-finned coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) “that flourished some 350 million years ago”1 continues to be a thorn...

NEWS
The Mosasaur: A Giant Sea Dragon
Mosasaurs (order Squamata) were massive marine lizards that were common in the pre-Flood oceans. Therefore, it is not surprising that their fossils...

DAYS OF PRAISE DEVOTIONALS
Summer 2025
...

NEWS
Was Life Detected on a Distant Planet?
There was celebration, albeit briefly, for the discovery of potential life on a planet called K2-18b, which is 124 lightyears away from Earth. The...

NEWS
Ichthyosaur Graveyard Explained by the Flood
Ichthyosaurs are marine reptiles that occur globally in the same rock layers as dinosaurs. Specimens with babies support the idea that they gave live...

CREATION PODCAST
What Do We Do With Geology's Unconforming Features? | The Creation...
Welcome to the fifth episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit old...

NEWS
Freshwater Fish Fossil in Australia
Yet another fish fossil has been discovered. This one was found in the Australian desert and was dated by evolutionists to be “15 million years...

NEWS
May 2025 ICR Wallpaper
"Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans...