News Paleontology

In the wake of history’s deadliest mass extinction, ocean life may have flourished

Marine ecosystems were back in action just a million years after the Permian-Triassic die-off

An illustration of a large, predatory fish known as coelacanths and eel-like conodonts swimming in the ocean.

The Guiyang biota in South China contains the fossilized remains of a diverse marine ecosystem (illustrated), which included large, predatory fish known as coelacanths and eel-like conodonts.

Dinghua Yang, Haijun Song

By Nikk Ogasa

Following the most severe known mass extinction in Earth’s history, vibrant marine ecosystems may have recovered within just a million years, researchers report in the Feb.