Fossil fish sport world’s oldest six packs

A team of palaeontologists, including three from ANU have uncovered the oldest fossilised vertebrate muscles ever discovered. The team have mapped the musculature of an ancient fossil fish approximately 380 million years old, discovered in the Gogo Formation in the Kimberley of Western Australia. "Gogo fossil fish are famous for their exceptional preservation," explains Dr Gavin Young of the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences. "They have already revealed soft tissues such as nerve and muscle cells, the oldest known vertebrate embryos, and even a preserved umbilical cord. These are all remarkable discoveries because soft tissues had never been known to preserve in such ancient fossils." The new study has gone beyond merely identifying soft tissues, and, for the first time, the musculature of these ancient fishes has been observed and mapped out. "These fossils are enclosed in limestone nodules, and are normally extracted by etching in weak acid," said Dr Young. "Numerous beautiful skeletons of extinct Gogo fishes have been prepared using this method, but it was not realised that preserved soft tissues were being destroyed in the process." Co-author Nicola Power discovered beautifully preserved muscle fibres in a Gogo fish specimen while completing her honours degree at the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences.