Cambrian Fossil Trove Finds 90 New Species Surviving Deep Waters After Mass Extinction
China’s Huayuan biota from about 512 million years ago yielded 153 species, with roughly 90 new to science. The fossils show soft-bodied anatomy (gills, guts, eyes, nerves) and include radiodont apex predators, indicating deep-water ecosystems endured the Sinsk mass extinction around 513 million years ago even as shallow-water life was decimated, revealing surprising Cambrian diversity.