Living Fossils Reveal Molecular Evolution.

• Position: Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Patrick M. Gillevet, a professor in the School of Computational Sciences at George Mason University, Fairfax, Va., joined forces with research teams from the National Museum of Natural History and the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum to search for living fossils at the bottom of the ocean in the Bahamas. Living fossils are animal species that were considered extinct and only known through fossil record, but have been found to be alive today.

The four-man crew used a small submarine to collect samples, primarily of slitsnails and other marine gastropods, in 800 to 2,500 feet of water. Taking DNA from the specimens, along with water and sediment samples, helps to reveal patterns of molecular evolution. Gillevet hopes the research will answer questions about how these animals have survived for hundreds of millions of years with little significant physical change, whether or not they have changed over time, in what ways, and how they compare to other...