The Brain of a 319M-Year-Old Fossil Fish
Scientists used CT scanning to identify a preserved fossilized brain in a 319-million-year-old fish fossil, pushing back the oldest known vertebrate brain by hundreds of millions of years. The find reveals surprising anatomical similarities to modern fish brains and highlights the potential for soft tissue preservation in unlikely fossils.
Background
- The article reports on a fossil of *Coccocephalus wildi*, a 319-million-year-old fish from a Carboniferous-era coal mine in England. What makes it extraordinary is that its brain tissue was preserved as a carbon film inside the braincase — extremely rare for soft tissue.
- The authors have published in Nature; this is a major piece of paleontological work using CT scanning to reconstruct the brain's shape and internal connections. The brain is also asymmetrical (uneven lobes), a bizarre feature that challenges assumptions about the evolution of early vertebrate brains.
- Readers should know: the Carboniferous (about 359–299 million years ago) is known mostly for insects, amphibians, and coal swamps. Soft-tissue fossils from this era are almost unheard of. A complex, well-preserved fish brain from before the dinosaurs suggests that vertebrate brain evolution started earlier than scientists thought.
- Key figures: the paper is co-led by Michael Coates (University of Chicago) and Sam Giles (University of Birmingham / Natural History Museum, London).