Rotten fish used to study fossils

By observing the fish as they are decaying, scientists have discovered patterns that may shed light on some of the most important and ancient fossils.

Scientists examine the change of organisms when it decays.

Ocean creatures are the earliest creatures to appear on earth, they only have live strings, not skeletons. In some special cases, they are still fossilized and preserved. But all that remains in fossils is just unformed soft tissue.

What researchers want to find out is exactly how these animals change after they die and before they fossilize.

'Smelly' research with these decaying fish reveals how primitive marine organisms change as they decompose. And based on these rotting patterns, scientists can recreate marine life at birth.

The study was published in Nature.

Dr. Rod Sansom of the University of Leicester, UK, who led the study, said the same fossil test is analytical - putting together scientific theories about what had happened in the past. The only difference is that we are dealing with life millions of years ago.

Dr Mark Purnell said scientists have conducted very . unpleasant experiments. He and his colleagues studied several primitive vertebrate marine animals, including rocky grouper. They also examined a few close relatives of vertebrates.

Scientists place dead creatures in clean containers and observe each organism's change as it dies. Many distinct features - some of which biologists use to identify fossils, like muscle shape - have changed in nature when decayed.

Following these changes, scientists can form transformations to elucidate the shape of ancient marine life. This is necessary to place the organism in the right place in the tree of life.

He concluded, although this work did not make anyone interested, but it is worth the effort of scientists.